The Goddess and The Wannabe God
by Lillithrose
Summary: What happens when Marie, the tsundere goddess and Sho, the guy who -almost- destroyed her town meet? Much name calling and puns are sure to be in the future. But, what happens when they realize it's sort of fun to hang out with someone who enjoys name calling and bad jokes just as much as the other? It might not be as easy as they hope though... to continue? Should I make another?
1. Chapter 1

The Goddess and The Wannabe God

Chapter 1

_Rain, rain and more friggin rain! Man what is up with this stupid town and it's stupid weather! _Sho wanted to go outside, release some of his pent up anger and energy and give his swords a spin but the weather lately had been anything but agreeable. Even the stupid looking red fog had been better weather than this. He sits next to his window, staring out the pane of glass then sighs. _Man...maybe I should just go for a 'rain' anyway. Heh. Give my legs stretch. _With a not-so-subtle look of irritation, Sho grabs his yellow and black sneakers and slips them on. His back curls over into an awkward pose as Sho drops his head down.

"Stupid town." Sho grumbles then opens the front door with a groan. He looks up to the nearly dark sky and sees that the clouds don't even have a break in them. After a brief punch to the wall just outside his doorway, Sho slam the door then takes off running anyway.

Since nearly making his dream of solitude come true - but somehow ending up a miserable failure instead - Sho had found time moved at half it's normal pace. Each day had dragged by like some half dead sucker trying to get off the battlefield. If his dream had come true, Sho wouldn't have been bothered by time's decision to slow down. It would have been quiet, sure, but Minazuki would have kept him company and he could go into the world and do whatever he would have wanted because it would have been _his_ world.

But, he failed. Hard. No perfect world of solitude was made. No friends were made after, despite them all boasting about how magical 'bonds' are. And Minazuki had gone and gotten himself destroyed trying to create the world Sho had wanted. So, needless to say, Sho spent much of his past couple of weeks sulking about and working out, hoping that somehow this might relax his nerves a bit. Though the horrible weather had not let up, so Sho was becoming incredibly irritated with running in the rain as it left even his socks feeling soggy.

_I swear. I wish I could meet stupid mother earth and punch her in the face. This weather is about the most annoying thing since nachos stuck in your gums. _ Sho stopped under a tree and sighed as he looked up to the sky with a grimace.

"Just for **once** couldn't the weather be a bit less friggin' irritating?!" Sho growls these words, causing a passerby to jump.

Most people in the town had noticed Sho by now, however, they didn't seem to pay much mind to him. Like he was some sort of half invisible person. Eh, maybe he was half invisible. He did feel like half a person anymore. Half of one volatile, pissed off kid. With a loud growl, Sho punches at the tree he stood under until his knuckles start to bleed. As he stands there, beating up this poor, defenseless tree, a small-figured woman walks up and clears her throat.


	2. Chapter 2

"What are you doing you stupidtreehatingloser?" The voice is one Sho doesn't remember ever hearing before. He turns around and sighs.

"It was calling me names." Sho shrugs with a look of 'who the fuck cares' written all over his face. He really wasn't in the mood to be lectured today. All he wanted to do was get some of his energy out and stretch his muscles a bit. And now there was some punk-rock lookin' chick trying to confront him despite the hint of pink on her cheeks. "Who the hell are you to bother me anyway?" He grumbles while looking down to his knuckles and wiping them on his pants.

"Wait a minute!" She inspects him closely. "Bright red hair," the bizarrely dressed girl points to each item as she speaks, "weird x shaped scar on your face, bad attitude..." With squinted eyes, she moves in close to him and shoves a finger in his face. "Who are you?"

"Uh, you want an introduction or something?" With a smirk, Sho touches his chest with his thumb. "My name's Sho. Sho Minazuki. What's it to you?" He crosses his arms over his chest and raises one eyebrow.

The girl before him glares suddenly and makes two tight fists. As she does this a small bolt of lightning cracks in the distance. She huffs and starts taking deep breaths as if Sho had done something to her. Who the hell was this chick?

"I knew it! Yu explained what you looked like! Ugh!" She shoves Sho backwards, though her motions aren't exactly the most powerful ever, it catches him off guard. No one had tried to bother him since the P1 arena in the fog. "I have been so exhausted because of you! I had to protect every person in Inaba because _you_ wanted to kill them all! I almost died because of you. God. I hoped I would get to meet you so I could give you my two cents you stupidmurderousjerkface!"

Sho almost starts laughing, so he uncrosses his arms and slaps his leg. "I guess you could say," he starts quietly then his words crescendo as they exit his lips, "you were just _dying_ to meet me." A boisterous laugh exits his lips then and he once again slaps his leg. "Oh man, dying to meet me. Get it? Laugh it's funny!"

"No it's not you stupidscarfacedjerk!" She grinds her teeth then watches as Sho gasps and touches his heart.

"Oh man." His words sound almost sad. "I've never been called that before." He places a hand on his forehead dramatically then leans back into the tree. The girl in the bright blue hat, striped arm things and plaid skirt almost looks guilty. "Oh man, that really _cut_ me deep. Talk about leaving scars. Geez." The red haired teen starts laughing again. "What's up with you? You almost died protecting everyone?" Pretending he has tears of laughter, Sho wipes one eye. "What do you think you are?"

"I'm Marie, the goddess of this town and because of you, I had to protect everyone from the red fog and all those shadows."

"Well if you're the goddess of this town then you should at least stop the rain. It's getting a little bit old." Sho raises an eyebrow. He'd heard of crazier things in his day. So why not, a punk rock goddess of Inaba...why the fuck not?

"The rain helps me to feel better." The so called Inaba goddess retorts.

"Yeah, well it's friggin' annoying!" Sho growls. "So how about you give it a friggin' rest. Shit!" He flails his arms up then takes a deep breath. Marie just steps forward and glares at him. "You're an odd duck you know?" With a grin, Sho chuckles at his play on words. "I mean, what kind of goddess wears safety pins on her bow tie?"

"I wear what I want to you stupidjudgementalscarface!" Despite her previous hatred for the guy, Sho was proving to be a bit more amusing than she had expected. Of course, she couldn't possibly let him know this. But, he was so unaffected by her name calling that it was actually kind of fun.

"What is with you talking like that?" Sho leans toward her and speaks slowly. "It's called enunciation." As Sho speaks, he rotates his shoulders and stretches his arms as if preparing for a fight. "Sure, it might take a little longer but you can still get your point across, punky goddess loser." His words come across almost playful as Marie was anything but a threat to him.

"I am not a loser!" Marie growls with a bit of blush to her cheeks. Her hands are in tight fists as she glares at the red haired guy.

"Oh yeah? Care to prove that theory?" Sho cracks his knuckles while simultaneously cracking his neck. Marie crosses her arms over her chest and shakes her head. "Well if you can't prove it, then I'm gonna stick to it. You're a lame Inaba goddess. Who wants to be a goddess of this friggin town anyway?"

"I love this town!" Marie declares angrily. "If you don't like it, leave! It's not like anyone would miss you anyway, stupidjerk!" She watches Sho closely then notices a twinge of sadness cross through his nearly glowing blue eyes. Ok, she knew that couldn't be that bad of a thing to say right?

_I mean, he isn't a good guy! No one likes him, right? I shouldn't feel bad!_ Despite the talk she gives herself, Marie can't help but feel the slightest tug on her heart. But Sho's words come out anything but sad.

"I _love_ this town. God, everyone says that! Why? What's so great about this frickin' town, huh?" Sho stomps around a bit. "There's nothing to do, no exciting shit to watch anymore, people are so freakin' happy and I just don't get it!" He rubs his temple and grumbles. "And you don't think I know no one would miss me? No one has ever missed me, so _that's_ nothing new!" His fist tightens up then he punches the tree and starts to murmur. "But I have nowhere else to friggin' go."

As she watches, Marie remembers bits and pieces about what Yu and the others had told her about Sho. She remembers them saying he was a bit crazy, but didn't Chie mention something about him being raised in a lab by some crazy guy? Something about Stockholm syndrome if she remembers right. And Yosuke mentioned a bunch of experiments and stuff that were done on this guy right? Man, maybe she shouldn't have said that. He was a jerk, but maybe it wasn't all his fault huh?

"Your stupid rain is making me hungry." Sho grumbles, hoping to change the topic. He looks at the time then nods. "Only good thing about your shitty ass weather? Lots of free rainy day beef bowls from Aiya." He walks past Marie then and she swears that despite his words, Sho looks depressed. Still feeling a bit guilty about her earlier mean outbreak, Marie clears her throat.

"Maybe you'd want someone to join you at Aiya?" She blurts quickly then touches her cheek as she starts to blush.

Sho turns back to her with an eyebrow raised. He shrugs his shoulder then waves. "Not like I care either way. But don't expect me to pay for you." Despite Sho's bitter words, Marie is certain she saw a smile sneaking onto his lips.


	3. Chapter 3

Once they arrive at Aiya, the chef sighs and begins Sho's order before Sho even says anything. Between he and Chie, this rainy weather has been killing his profit.

Sho sits down and glances over to Marie who is carefully taking a seat beside him. She is a tiny little thing. Short black bob cut, bright blue hat, weird choker with a...lock on it wtf? His eyes scrunch up as he observes her bizarre outfit then he shrugs. It wasn't like he was the most normal looking guy in town. But man, is that a freaking flying heart on her belt? Where does she even find this stuff?

"So...you really eat the whole bowl?" Marie questions quietly then orders herself a bowl of miso soup and a ginger dressing salad. When she looks over, she sees Sho give her a confused look.

"Really? You come to Aiya and order soup and salad?" He shakes his head. "Gotta keep that goddess-like physique huh? Tiny and unintimidating. I always thought goddesses were shown with like huge boobs, crazy muscles and fancy clothes. Did you miss the memo or are you just rebellious?" When his giant beef bowl is placed in front of him, Sho grins and breaks apart his chop sticks.

Marie couldn't find words at first. She couldn't believe what he'd just said, but...watching someone eat that much food that easily...she thought Chie was the only one...

"I just like eating healthy!" Marie shouts at last as bright red blush burns into her cheeks. She looks down to her own meal and nods. "Plus, miso soup and salad are plenty for me."

"Sure." Sho speaks through half chewed food. Manners weren't on his list of things needed to live, obviously. "But my food is actually good." He swallows the rest of the food then continues. "Plus, it's free since I finish it easily. I do love that part about the rain. No cooking dinner for me!" Sho grabs a couple more bites then goes back to eating. "So, how does one become the Inaba goddess huh?"

"I just...did, ok?" Marie didn't really like talking about all her issues from a year ago. It was weird for her to not know where she was from or who she was, but it was weirder still to find out who she was. "A bunch of stuff happened and then I realized I was a goddess so I stayed to protect Inaba." She eats a few bites of salad then turns to see that almost half of the large beef bowl is already gone. After being both a little disgusted and a little impressed, Marie shoves her chopsticks into Sho's face. He turns toward her with a look of surprise then continues chewing his food. "Good thing too! Or you probably would have killed a lot of people here!" She huffs then continues eating. Why had she come here with him?

"Probably not. Yu and the others still would have won I'm sure." Sho's eating slows and his words seem to carry an unknown weight. "All of them against me...there was no way I was gonna win." He shakes his head then stuffs another bite in his mouth. Speaking again through half chewed food, Sho adds, "because that's the power of bonds or some shit."

"All those shadows _would_ have killed some people at least. They have families! Lives would have been lost and ruined! I couldn't let that happen." Marie watches Sho and can't help but be a little confused. Where was this psychotic guy who tried to take over the world. This guy just seemed like a broken-hearted smart ass who wouldn't admit how he felt if his life depended on it. She takes a drink of her miso and watches as Sho's lips raise up sideways and his eyebrows shrug.

"Woulda sucked to be them huh?" He rolls his eyes. "Good job keeping them all alive then. Wouldn't want anyone to deal with loss around here. Might ruin that irritatingly happy feeling in this stupid town." Sho finishes his food then sets his chopsticks on top of the bowl. He stands up and starts to stretch. The amount of energy dwelling within him was a bit ridiculous. Then again, Marie remembers Yu and the others talking about how well Sho fought. And that was against...something like twelve people or something right? Gotta have a lot of energy for that.

"Why do you hate this town so much?" Marie growls at last. She pays for her meal then gets up to follow him. Her teal eyes watch him walk down the street lightly as if he didn't just inhale something like two pounds of meat. Sho's face twitches a little at the question.

"It's boring." He blurts without a second thought. One of his unbelieveably pale hands run through his blood red hair then he shakes his head about, trying to get some of the water off his scalp. "And lately it rains too damn much because some goddess I supposedly know is a mopey little girl." She turns to Marie knowing she would get all worked up over that. He hadn't known her more than a few hours but her reactions were so expected.

"I told you already-" Marie starts then Sho joins in.

"The rain makes me feel better." He says the words simultaneously with Marie then starts laughing. "Yeah, yeah yeah whatever." Sho looks over as Marie's face turns pink.

"You! You stupidjerkIhateyou!" Marie growls then punches Sho in the shoulder. She feels as though he's way more solid than he looks. Man, maybe Yosuke had been right about this guy being raised as a weapon. No normal high schooler could be this built and messed up otherwise, right?

"Oh...you hate me. How ever will I live with myself." Sho stumbles about dramatically then quickly starts to laugh again. "Man, you crack me up." He leans on her shoulder and tilts his head to look at her, but before he can say anything, Marie pulls herself from beneath him, almost causing Sho to tumble to the ground. Thankfully, his reflexes are quick enough that he barely stumbles at all.

"So, what does a goddess do in this town?" Sho questions as they walk down the street together.

"I like walking around, hanging out by the river or up on the cliff. It's so peaceful there."

"Yeah, peaceful if you like the sound of rain for the 10th day in a row!" Sho grumbles. Tired of Sho's grumpy attitude, Marie grabs his elbow and leads him to the river. With a roll of his eyes, Sho follows along more out of the fact that he has nothing better to do then Marie's strength. Realistically, he wouldn't have had to try very hard to break his arm free, but he didn't want to embarrass this goddess any more than he already had.

Once they reach the river, Marie sighs and the rain slowly beings to let up a bit. Sho sits on the wet ground, already drenched to the bone as he couldn't possibly carry an umbrella or wear a coat. He watches the water sway and – for just a moment – loses himself in the serenity of the nature around him. Marie notices this and feels her hand twitching to write a poem about this.

_The violent red head being lulled by the serene water. Droplets of rain rolling through his cherry hair..._

Marie shakes her head and blushes a little. Sighing a little, Marie sits down beside Sho and smiles toward the water.

"I guess you could say I'm feeling a bit more sunny with this improvement in the weather." Sho laughs a little and watches as Marie touches her forehead as she shakes her head. These puns might get old fast...


	4. Chapter 4

After sitting for a while longer, Sho becomes bored so he heads on home. While he had fun hanging out with this weirdo, he didn't want to admit it so easily. For the next few days, Sho wanders about town, bored out of his mind as usual. Then one day while he wanders around in the nearby city, he sees a familiar blue hat. Unsure whether he wants to talk or not, Sho turns the other direction, but not before he hears Marie call,

"Sho!"

Why was she trying to be his friend? Why was anyone?! With a faked smile, Sho turns around and waves his hand once.

"Hey loser Inaba goddess! How ya doin?" He kicks one foot up on a nearby bench, standing as though it were his treasure. When he sees her face become red with embarrassment and anger, Sho smiles. Maybe he had missed this a bit.

"Marie. _Marie..._get it? It's shorter than your dumb nickname stupidscarfacednomannersjerk." She walks up then hits him with her purse. It is the same obnoxious blue as her hat and weighs a ton. What in the hell did she have in there?

"Oh my bad." He looks up to the sky. "Weather in Inaba's been a bit better lately." With a grin Sho adds, "all my anti-rain comments must have brainwashed you." He chuckles. "All your stupid rain wants just ran down the drain..." Ok, he had to be honest – at least to himself – this was fun. With a jump, Sho pats Marie on the back with a little laugh. "So what is the Inaba goddess doing here?"

"I dunno." She didn't dare say she'd been bored. But when she looks up to Sho's burning blue eyes, she can tell he already knows. "I was thinking about going to the book store or something."

"Man, no wonder you like Inaba so much. Book store? Talk about booooring." He pushes her along toward the nearby arcade. "How about you try this place." Sho lets her go then stands behind her with his arms crossed. "I was gonna give it a go, I'll treat." With an over-dramatic hand over his heart, Sho opens the door and steps inside. Though he won't beg her to come, he really hopes she might join. He turns his head only enough to see Marie walk through the doors with a sigh. She holds her purse close as she looks over all of the flashing machines.

"So, what games do you play here?" Marie asks as she catches up to Sho, eyes not looking toward the crimson haired teen.

Sho grabs her by the shoulder and leads her over to a two player fighting game. It's an old one but looks quite popular. Without saying a word, he pops a coin in and motions for Marie to join. In an instant, he has selected a fighter with swords and is bouncing around. Marie looks at this then remembers what she's heard of his fighting style.

"Umm..." After looking over them all, Marie just selects random. When the battle begins, she watches as Sho's character zooms across the screen and slices up her poor little pirate girl. Within seconds, round two begins. Still not knowing what she's doing, Marie begins to furiously push buttons in attempts to put up some sort of fight. She watches through squinted eyes as her pirate goes crazy, swinging the weapon around, summoning little creatures to fight and takes down the other guy rather quickly. "Haha! I won!"

"You cheated! Button masher!" Sho growls and goes into the final round with a vengeance. Despite this, Marie continues to frantically push all of her buttons, without a clue, and wins again. "What the shit?! That's bullshit!" He growls while waving one hand angrily at the game. "You aren't suppose to play like that!" He storms away from the machine, visibly fuming.

"Well, I've never played before! What was I suppose to do? Stupidjerkface." She smiles proudly even though she can see that Sho's loss truly bothers him. Together, they walk past a punching bag machine. "Wow, that's a high score." Marie muses quietly.

"On that stupid machine? All you have to do is punch it." Sho seems unimpressed with the game and shrugs while walking past.

"Think you could do better?" Marie puts her hands on her hips and looks at Sho suspiciously. Quickly, Sho turns around and moves his face in close to hers. This causes Marie to blush violently. "G-get out of my face jerk!"

"Do you really want me to play _that_ game?" Sho couldn't be beaten at something else. "You'd have to play something first." He puts a hand on his hip then hands Marie a coin with a smirk. She snatches the coin up and places it in the machine. After the machine beeps for her to hit, Marie puts her entire tiny body into the punch and actually gets a pretty good hit. Surprised, Sho nods approvingly. "Not bad. I guess you aren't such a scrawny little goddess after all."

"Well of course not! I'm not useless or anything!" Marie sticks her tongue out at Sho as he comes up to the machine and sighs at it as if worried about playing it. "What, you afraid you won't beat me?"

"No. I don't want to break it." Sho announces this casually. Marie shakes her head and laughs a little. He turns to her with one eyebrow raised. "What? You think I'm joking?"

"Look at you!" Marie points then actually starts to laugh while holding her stomach. "There's big body builders-" She speaks as Sho cracks his knuckles then puts a coin into the machine. "Body builders who come in here just to -" the machine beeps and Sho rolls his shoulder and pulls his hand back, "to show off to their girlfriends and-"

SMASH! CRACK!

Just as Sho had said, the metal arm holding the punching bag snaps and falls over. The machine starts to beep and the high score screen flickers with a slue of different symbols before the manager walks over. Beside the bewildered Marie, Sho shrugs and says 'all I did was punch it.' The manager, being in the same mindset as Marie had be previously, doesn't imagine Sho could have done that damage himself so he writes it off as faulty. But Marie knew better. She'd just used it and it was fine. Plus...look at the arm! It's bent and dented!

"I warned you." Sho shrugs. "I guess I was just too good of a hit for the hard hitter huh?" He laughs a little. "It just wasn't ready for the impact I would leave!" His face almost cracks open as he continues making fun of the 'weak machine.'

Marie watches him and can't help but be a little afraid of him now. Sure, he didn't seem like much of a threat after dealing with Yu and the others and he was pretty fun to hang out with – she really was starting to like those stupid puns – but he is apparently way stronger than she expected. He could probably take on the entire Investigation Team and put up a pretty good fight. Marie is sure she never saw any of them fight like that without the use of their persona. And now Sho has one of those too? The strength he would have in the TV world would be a little overwhelming.

"Wanna rock out?" Sho breaks Marie's chain of thought as he picks up a pretend guitar and puts the strap over his head. "Come on, show me the entrancing voice of the Inaba goddess!" He tosses Marie the microphone then laughs a little. "Unless you're too _afraid_."

"I-I'll sing!" Marie stands up and goes through the list of songs for a while before coming to one she knows. When the song starts, Sho plays the pretend guitar with vigor. Does he do everything with that much energy? Marie watches him and smiles a little.

_He's like a little kid. A jerk kid...but still a kid._

Just as Marie starts singing, Sho's eyes open a little wide. Her voice _was_ actually pretty good. He allows his eyes to drift from the screen to her occasionally. Well, he _had_ told Marie to show him a beautiful voice right? Man, it is really good. Sho shakes his head and stares back at the screen on the machine, trying hard not to look over to the nervously singing girl beside him. Her face is almost entirely pink as the song reaches it's finale.

_Idiot, she didn't __**have**__ to sing if she was gonna be so embarrassed about it._

Swiftly, Marie hangs up the microphone and takes a seat on the bench against the nearest wall. Casually, Sho walks over and places his arms over the back of the bench, leaning back onto the cool metal. It was unusually hot in the arcade today. Maybe they should take a break. Right as Sho opens his mouth to speak, Marie walks over to one of the dance machines and looks it over curiously.

"How do you play this one?" She asks.

Hopping up from his seat, Sho quickly explains. "You have to hit the arrows that show up on the screen. It's a little annoying." He tells her. Seeing the look of uncertainty on Sho's face, Marie decides this is a game she wants to play. "You really wanna try it?"

Marie nods and holds her hand out for a coin. Shaking his head, Sho hands her the coin then inserts one for himself. Despite not being a fan of this particular game, he wouldn't let himself be outdone. He picks an upbeat song then prepares to trip over his own two feet attempting to hit the dumb arrows. Neither of them do very well, but seeing the other do just as bad, they both end up laughing and when their scores come up both of them hurriedly jump down from the machine.

Following Sho out the door, Marie takes a deep breath. While it had been fun, the arcade had a weird hot, plasticy smell. The air outside smelled so much better. Although, she caught whiff of some food nearby and her stomach growls.

"Oh and now you want me to buy you food too?" Sho hears her stomach and doesn't waste a second to tease her. "Typical girl, huh?"

"I didn't say you have to-!" Marie cuts herself off and grinds her teeth while pouting.

"Oh no! I know better. I don't want to deal with a goddess's wrath. Lead the way to food m'lady." He acts dramatically as she leads him to a nearby sushi shop and steps inside. With a sigh, Sho plops down at the table and instantly seems to know what he wants.

"I didn't say you had to treat me. I didn't even say I was hungry." Marie is surprised that – despite the fact that he was nearly the worse mass-murder ever – Sho seemed to be a secret nice guy. Without asking, he treated her to an arcade visit then offered to buy her food just because of a stomach growl. She listens as Sho orders a taro bubble tea and super spicy tuna roll. Odd mix. She orders a basic cucumber roll and a few pieces of sea urchin but decides to copy Sho's drink choice.

"Again, I don't want to face the wrath of the unfed goddess. No need to cause a typhoon by being a penny pincher." He smiles and waves his hand through the air. "So...arcade...more fun than a book store right?"

"Well, it _was _fun. But I still wanna get a new book." Marie admits as their drinks are brought over. She'd never had a bubble tea before.

"Why?" Sho whines. "Books are booooring." He adds while kicking his feet up onto the table. Offended, Marie pushes his feet off the table then gasps as he falls to the ground. Somehow, Sho manages to keep his tea from spilling, but all the nearby guests stop and gawk as he picks up his chair. "What?!" He barks, causing them all to quickly turn away. Grumpily taking his seat again, Sho leans on his elbows and rolls his eyes. "That's not how you make me fall for you." He teases.

"I'm not trying!" Marie growls and makes two tight fists. "I'm not asking you to come to the store with me. If you don't want to go to the book store, don't go!" After the food is sat in front of them, Marie stuffs her face with one of the pieces of sushi. Across the table, Sho covers his already spicy roll with large globs of wasabi and takes a large bite. Being near the roll actually causes Marie's eyes to water a little and she can feel her own nasal passages opening. How can he eat that so casually?

"Nah. I'll come. You've gotta show me why it's worthwhile, right?" He swallows his second bite then grins. "I'm drawing a blank page on why books might be fun."

Marie finishes the rest of her food without saying a word. When Sho finishes his unbelievably spicy roll as though it were just any old roll, Marie sighs and stands up, carrying her bubble tea with her as she leads him to the bookstore. Once inside, her eyes start to sparkle. She loved getting new books of poetry to help her own poetry get better.

Sho watches her eyes light up and decides he will look around. Occasionally, he glances back to Marie and grins as he watches her become so happy and animated. Maybe bookstores were really great after all, huh? It takes him a while to find anything that interests him, but when Sho finds the graphic novel section, he realizes not everything at the book store was just blah blah blah in black and white.

When Marie walks over to him with a bag of books, Sho pretends to be annoyed and holds out his hand. He raises one eyebrow and looks toward her while curling his index finger up.

"What do you want?" Marie questions. Sho sighs and grabs the bag.

"I've seen this in movies. Guys have to follow behind and carry all the girls crap." Sho does as he says and follows behind Marie.

She leads him toward the beach and sits down without saying a word. Sho shrugs and does the same. Marie looks out to the ocean and sighs. Her beautiful teal eyes watch the last of the people playing in the ocean's cool waters and remembers coming here with everyone last year. It had been a lot of fun even though Marie had felt a little out of place.

Sho can tell Marie is quickly becoming lost in thought. The sun was setting in the distance, it was actually kind of pretty. He sighs, unsure what to do. Should he just leave?

"Soo...any reason we came here?" He asks. "I shrimply don't see any good reason to be here." Sho laughs a bit at his unnecessary pun.

"I...just wanted to watch the sunset is all." Marie muses. Though a tiny white lie, she wasn't sure she wanted to speak what was really on her mind so soon. Plus, it's not like he would understand either. No one does.

"Oh stop being so shellfish and just tell me the real reason." He laughs, but Marie can tell he has seen through her little white lie. "I shorely won't say anything mean!"

"OH MY GOD STOP WITH THE PUNS!" Marie explodes. She crawls over to Sho and tries pushing him to the ground. Her effort does little however. Realizing this, Marie punches Sho's chest and huffs before sitting back down again.

"Stop being such a beach why don't you?" He waves his hands then with a boisterous laugh. "I'm sorry that was the last one. It's just so funny watching you get so upset!" Sho laughs loudly and somehow, Marie can't help but laugh a little too.

He really wasn't anything like she'd been expecting. At first glance, you'd think he'd be such a jerk. Crimson hair, punky personality, big scar on his face...but he's actually pretty fun. Sure, his temper could be a little much to handle.

_No beating him at too many games._ Marie thinks as she remembers his outburst after her winning at the fighting game. But overall, he seemed pretty casual.

"So, what's the real reason you came here." Sho asks after finally calming himself down a bit.

"Memories." Marie bites her lip. How much is she willing to share to the guy who caused her so much struggling?


	5. Chapter 5

"Memories kinda suck huh?" Sho's suddenly serious response throws Marie off. She shakes her head then looks out to the setting sun.

"Not all of them." Her voice is reminiscent of the times she and the investigation team had done things together. Those weren't bad memories. But when she looks over, she can see a fog over Sho's eyes.

"Lucky you." He says this quietly, as if not sure if he wants Marie to hear the words.

"They can't all be bad." Marie says stubbornly. But when Sho's despondent blue eyes meet her own eyes, she wonders if that might not be all true.

Sho looks out to the sun set and his heart drops. Was it _that_ unusual to have nothing but bad memories? He tries to remember good times, but the most fun he'd had was planning the P1 arena and fighting his way through them all. Hanging with Marie had been fun too...But...other than that, there wasn't much he could remember.

"I made dad smile once." Sho proudly announces at last. Though he tries to sound pleased, his voice is cold and bitter. "I killed enough of the failures quickly and without question." He sighs and scratches behind his ear. "He was proud of me for a moment, so he actually smiled." At that, he looks over to Marie and sees a confused look on her face. "What?"

"Dad? Yukiko said you were an orphan?" Marie frowns as that isn't really much better. But what kind of dad makes you kill things?

"Well I was but Dad took me in and trained me up. He was trying to make me gain a persona. I know he didn't give a shit about me but I tried to be a good son and do what he wanted." Sho's words became weighted as he spoke so he quickly shook his head and laughed. "But it's not like that matters or anything!" He tries to make himself strong and change the subject, but Marie sees through it. He rolls his shoulders around and clears his throat.

"Your 'dad' was Ikutsuki...right?" Marie feels a little bad going back to the painful subject but she is genuinely curious about what made Sho go crazy and try to kill everyone.

"Yup. Infamous Ikutsuki."

"I read about him. He tried to make a bunch of people awaken to personas. I know I read about the Strega group and stuff but it said you were his favorite..."

"Yup. I was his favorite. I was super strong and tried to make him happy so I did whatever he wanted." Sho stood up as he spoke, obviously uncomfortable sharing this information.

"Then why...did you stop-" Marie starts and Sho angrily cuts her off as he could tell where her questions were going.

"Stop being his favorite?" Sho blurts and then Marie silently nods. "Because when he implanted the plume of dusk into me, I gained a second personality instead of a persona and that other personality gained a persona. And when he tried to kill off the second personality I went into a coma so he tossed me aside like garbage. Ever since, I've been ignored, tossed away and shoved out of people's lives. So...memories suck." He spits out the information quickly and venomously. As he starts to continue, Sho's eyes look sadly up to Marie.

"I'm sorry." Marie whispers as she stands up to attempt to face Sho.

"Are you really?" Sho growls. "I really doubt it." He turns and begins to storm away from Marie, suddenly finding it hard to be around people anymore. Marie watches him go for a second then quietly follows after. She can't decide whether to talk or not so instead she just follows behind him inaudibly watching his motions.

Sho storms around, hating that he just revealed that much information. How could he do that? Why did he tell her all that? He hits himself in the side of his head as he walks, hoping to knock some sense into himself. Marie watches this and can't decide what to say but all of a sudden, Sho sits down in a nearby bench and looks up to Marie as if he's known she was following all along.

"What do you want?" He mutters quietly.

"I...just..." She sits down beside him and neither of them says anything for a while. Marie take a deep breath then starts. "You asked what I was thinking about at the beach...I was remembering the time when I felt so empty. No one seemed to understand what I could mean. And it is such a frustrating feeling. I don't feel as empty now, but I've always just had a spot where something seems to be missing." She sighs then looks over to Sho with a weak smile. "I'm sure you don't-"

"You feel like there's something that use to be there. Something that you should really know. And you know that it was there, but there isn't anything you can do to bring it back." Sho decides if she was being open with him that he would let her see what floats around in his head. "I understand better than you might know what it means to feel empty." He cuts his words short then stands up and swings his arms through the air, punching at the ghosts of his past. Marie watches him then loudly clears her throat.

"Want me to take you to a dojo? I know one you could go work out at..." She watches him as he stops punching the air and turns to her with a smirk.

"Lead the way then m'lady. Do go to the dojo." He laughs then offers to help her up, but Marie shoos his hand away. As her face blushes, Marie slaps at Sho.

"Stop calling me that! My name's Marie stupidjerkface!" Regardless of her mean words, Marie continues to lead Sho toward the nearby dojo. She steps inside and takes a seat on the far side of the large matted room.

Looking like a child in a candy store, Sho darts over to the training swords and picks up two, one for each hand. He spins them around in his fingers, observing them and twirling them to test their weight. After skillfully catching the wooden swords, Sho's face shines like the sun. Sho darts over to one of the large, sturdy training dummys and begins to go crazy. His arms flail about, slicing the blades this way and that as he jumps up into the air and darts across the floor. Feeling more relief than he had in some time, Sho begins to laugh as his body warms up.

From some distance away, Marie watches Sho and is entranced by his hectic though somehow hypnotic movements. She is amazed at the amount of stamina he seems to have. But, as Sho begins to laugh, Marie cannot help but wonder why.

"Having fun?" She calls, though the answer is already obvious.

"**This** is what I know." Sho states. And for a while, neither of them says another word. Though, Marie begins to consider the meaning of this sentence. He didn't know friendship or love or really everyday life all that well. But he did know fighting. That had been his entire life. Marie's face becomes downtrodden as she realizes just how ungrateful she's been. Despite being unsure what to do, Sho has been trying to be the best friend he could. And, really, he'd been doing a good job. "Do you like fighting?" Sho shouts as he does a flip and attacks the training dummy with precisely timed swipes of the wooden blades. Marie's train of thought is suddenly broken.

"Um, not really but I know a little but..." She watches him do a crazy looking sword combo and can't help but wonder how he doesn't cut himself while doing those moves. "I'm nowhere near as good as you."

"Well, duh! No one's as good as me!" Sho laughs as he takes a breath. Seeing a water fountain, he walks over and takes a quick drink. When he does, Marie takes this moment to look him over and almost gasps when she realizes he has hardly even broken a sweat despite doing intense sword training for nearly a half hour. As he turns around, Sho has a serious look on his face.

_I watched him fight for years. I can do this._

Sho shifts his weight and changes his posture. From a distance, Marie watches as his whole body seems to make a shift. Even the way he holds the swords seem to be a little different. She watches as he takes off once more, but this time his motions are different. Sho moves slower and makes more decisive motions. Marie watches as his footing becomes unsure despite the slowed motions and she can't help but wonder what has changed.

_Come on! I've seen this my whole life. It shouldn't be this damn hard!_

Trying once more, Sho takes a deep breath and attempts the calmer routine once again. The motions seem more fluid but his body seems to be confused by the motions. Marie can't – for the life of her – figure out what he was trying to do or why. His first couple of routines were fast, vicious and flawless. Why would he want to change it now?

Suddenly, something seems to snap within Sho. His arms flail around madly and he starts to scream as he strikes the dummy with enough force that the heavy figure nearly topples over again and again. He jumps around and gives every effort to strain himself and make as many chaotic movements per second he can. Marie grabs her purse and the small bag of books and holds them against her tight. Finally, Sho stops moving and drops the two wooden swords. After kicking one of them away, Sho grabs his face and falls to the ground. He lands loudly on his knees but doesn't so much as flinch at the pain.

Marie stands up to follow but after she takes a few steps, she hears a most unexpected sound...tears.


	6. Chapter 6

Her footsteps stop then as she isn't sure what to expect. From beside the dummy, Sho's tears are violent. "Stupid asshole." He sobs. Attempting to wipe at his tears with the sleeve of his olive green shirt, Sho doesn't dare look back to Marie despite the fact that he knows she must be close enough to hear. "God damn stupid asshole."

"Sh-Sho...what's wrong?" Marie calls quietly, unsure who 'he' could be.

At first, Sho says nothing. Instead he punches the floor of the dojo then swipes up his training swords. His body is strangely shaky as he walks the swords back to their proper place. He attempts to hold himself up strong, but two tears escape his aching eyes as he turns to face the dummy again. From the corner of his eye, Sho can see the pitiful look Marie is giving him, but – at least for a few minutes longer – he wouldn't let her see just how broken he was. Damnit, he was almost the god of his own world. He _will not_ cry.

But even as he tries to tell himself this, his spine shivers under the weight of his sadness. As he reaches the training dummy, Sho's knees finally buckle again. He shoots his arms out, to keep the top half of his body from slamming into the ground then suddenly all hell breaks loose. His tears seem no longer willing to work with him and they simply begin to pour out of his eyes as his body starts to crumple into a heap on the floor. Despite this, his posture stays proud, at first. Next to him, Marie reaches out her hand but, at that very moment, Sho begins to speak.

"You know that emptiness you use to know?" He looks up to her, his brilliant blue eyes red and watering. Marie steps over to him and sits down near him. With a nod, she grasps her purse tight. She isn't sure how he would feel about a hand on his leg or arm and she was a little afraid to do more than that right now. Both of Sho's hands are in tight fists as he attempts to take deep, calming breaths. Each one, however, cracks and fizzles into another sob. "Well, that's something I'm still trying to get use to."

"What do you mean?" Marie asks innocently.

"That other personality...he was killed by Yu and his buddies." Sho's voice cracks as he says this. Then his – what was still strong seconds ago – posture breaks. His hands pull at the edges of his hair before slamming into the ground. "I kept trying to tell myself...he really isn't dead. He's just being quiet." Weak to the point of almost being inaudible, Sho's voice crackles and strains to make sound. "When I started to remember...things from when I was with Dad...a week or so ago, I realized he wasn't around anymore. He never use to let me deal with that kind of pain." Sho curls in on himself, bringing his head almost all the way to his knees as he pauses unable to speak. The memories were painful, sure, but the lack of the other half of himself was worse. Now, he remained to be nothing more than a half empty shell, full to the brim of unwanted memories from two minds. After a few moments of silence, Sho lifts his head and tries to speak again. "I've been trying to wake him back up by fighting like him, but I don't know how. That shit head was always too calm for me to understand. I have never been able to fight like that. He'd walk into the scene and make two slow motions where I would have jumped around and darted back and forth a few times already." He shakes his head with a bitter smile. "I can't do it."

Marie looks at him and finds herself feeling horribly guilty. She had brought this all up. Why had she brought it up? They had been having so much fun and then she went and brought up the most painful parts of Sho's past. Unsure what to do, Marie just sits there, watching the broken teenager cry. Oh man, this was too much for her.

"He really is dead. That stupid frickin' idiot." Sho's words are bitter, the tears have begun to slow at last, but it is obvious his heart still aches as his strong posture has vanished. He looks over to Marie and points a finger toward her. "I swear...if you tell _anyone_ about his..." His words growl out his clenched teeth.

"I won't." Marie shakes her head and raises her hands. She honestly didn't know who she would tell or why anyway. No one even knew she had hung out with him at all yet.

"This...feeling is just so..." Sho holds his hands up and stares at them. "Miserable." He grabs his head and sighs. "I never wanted to be that alone. He knew that."

"I..." Marie starts to speak but realizes she doesn't actually know what to say. Sho looks at her with sad eyes. Her hand tightens into a fist as she doesn't know what to do. She's suppose to hate this guy! Why can't she hate him!

"Can you make me a promise?" Sho's voice is weak and almost frightened when he speaks again. Marie nods then takes a deep breath as she isn't sure what kind of promise he's going to force her to make. "If you decide to throw me out with tomorrow's garbage, at least let me say goodbye first?"


	7. Chapter 7

A sort of silence falls then that neither of them thought could exist. Sho dries his tears and Marie sits next to him feeling her heart sink at the weight of that sentence. _At least let me say goodbye first._ What a horrible life so have that be the only wish you have of someone thinking of tossing you aside. Her eyes dare to water as she wasn't sure she's ever dealt with such raw emotion before. Man, her poetry fingers were twitching. The beauty in such a disastrous moment really was one to write about.

"Well, we'd better take off before the police show up." Sho starts as he clears his throat. Marie hurriedly stands up and grabs her bags then looks around and can't figure out what he meant. "They might think we're running a body house in this gym." He grins, obviously returning to himself once again.

"Ugh!" Marie huffs then stomps toward the door. "You and your puns!" She flicks off the lights then waits by the door for Sho. When she looks back at him, she sees the sad aura still floating around him, but his face looks a little more sarcastic like it once was. Once outside, Sho looks up to the sky and grins.

"Starry to keep you waiting." He laughs then runs away a bit, knowing his use of another pun so soon would make Marie angry. On cue, Marie exhales then storms after him. Playfully, Sho darts around the slightly wooded area and somehow ends up chasing Marie. Together, they laugh a little before Sho grabs her around the waist and places his head on her shoulder. "Seriously though, just give me a minutes warning first, ok?"

"I'm gonna throw you in the river if you don't let go of me you stupidbipolarscarface!" Marie pushes to free herself as her face burns a brilliant red.

"Ooo bipolar. That's a new one." He flicks a chunk of Marie's hair then laughs. "Not." With renewed energy, Sho wanders the streets with her until Marie starts to yawn. Sho has found sleep no longer wanted to be his friend but he understood that this wasn't normal for most. "Well, I guess I'll see you around again soon, right?" Despite trying to act like himself, Sho seems to truly be asking if he would get to see Marie again.

"Yeah. Give me your number and I'll call you sometime tomorrow."

After a brief exchange of numbers, Marie and Sho go their separate ways. Once inside, Marie grabs her poetry book and starts to scribble down several pages of poems dedicated to Sho and his recent struggles. The words seemed to flow straight from the pen itself. Her smile grew as the blush on her cheeks grows darker.

"I'm suppose to hate this jerk!" She complains then shrugs and continues to write.

Meanwhile, Sho enters his dark, quiet home and collapses onto his bed. He thinks about his day and shakes his head. Man, he really had let too much show. Why did he do that? Well, Minazuki is gone and Marie _is _the only person who has listened to him since. He probably just needed to get all of that off his chest. But, man, he sure made a fool out of himself doing it huh? Well, he sure can't let _that_ happen again.

For two days, neither Sho nor Marie get the gall to call the other. Then, as chance would have it, Sho sees the bizarrely blue hat down the road. He stealthily runs up the street and covers Marie's eyes with his hands. Before she can even think, Sho starts to laugh.

"I'm sure you'll never be able to guess who is so incredible they take your very sight away..." He laughs as Marie starts to squirm under his grip.

"Let go of me you stupidjerkface!" Marie tries to kick backwards and hit him, but Sho is too quick. He releases her eyes and does a back flip to avoid taking a swift back kick to the groin. Once his feet hit the ground, Sho looks over to see Marie facing him with a glare. "You _could_ call if you wanted to see me!" Marie grumbles.

"Hey I could say the same to you," Sho grins, "but the reception might be a little fuzzy." He laughs then walks back over to Marie. "Didn't ya miss me?" His face seems back to the vigorous facade it use to be. No longer do his shoulder seem weighted. It pleases Marie to see him looking so much happier but she doesn't want to show it just yet.

"Gah! You and your freaking puns! I didn't miss those, you punlovingjerk!" Marie turns away to dramatically walk away, but as she does, her poetry book falls out of her bag. Trying to be helpful, Sho picks it up and starts to hand it back, but the words on the open page catch his attention. Allowing Marie to take a few more steps away, Sho reads the poem.

_Brilliant red shining under dew drops of rain,_

_the river sings her quiet song,_

_eyes more blue than the river,_

_till the next time I see them...how long?_

"This is about...me..." Sho mumbles as he turns the page to see a handful more poems about himself. His heart skips a few beats and he shakes his head, unsure of what to make of this. Deciding it best to pretend he didn't read anything, Sho closes the book and darts up to Marie. "You dropped this."

Marie grabs the book and blushes wildly. There were so many words in that book she really hoped Sho hadn't read. "Oh th-thank you."

"Well, I have some running to do," Sho starts as the fluttering in his heart becomes uncomfortable. "Give me a call,ok?" His heart races even before his feet take off. The look on Marie's face is one of pure embarrassment when she looks down to see the bookmark isn't where it previously had been. Before she can say a word, Sho has ran down the road and around the corner.

_Oh god what happens now? _Marie wonders as she angrily shoves the book back into the bag. _Do you do this on purpose you stupid book?!_


	8. Chapter 8

Sho enters his home and slams to door. He paces back and forth while his body seems prepped and ready to fight. His face is flush, muscles feel tense and his heart is racing. Sure, he'd just ran back home, but that barely even got his pulse to raise anymore. What the hell happened? The only time Sho has felt these sorts of things was about people he hated or people he knew he was going to have to fight. With one swift motion, Sho turns and slams his hand into the wall.

"But why do I hate her all of a sudden?!" He shouts, thinking back to the days they had spent hanging out and genuinely having fun. Hadn't they gone to the arcade and had a blast? With her, Sho had even smiled his first truly happy smile. Why then, did his pulse raise up and his head spin? His adrenaline hadn't pumped this hard since the P1 arena, so why now?! Was it because he had told her so much that he normally hid under piles and piles of puns and violence? That had to be it...right?

"Stupid blue hat girl!" Sho spins around and kicks the wall. Why had that idiotic girl wrote stuff about him like that? Didn't she know that Sho was just a useless bundle of anger and violence? So why did she need to write such...fluffy, happy shit about him?

_Shining red?__That's how you're going to refer to me?! And then to write all that shit about me, falling to pieces...what the shit is that all about huh?!_

Again, Sho slams his hand into the wall and watches as the plaster there cracks and crumbles under his fist. Damnit. He shouldn't have hit it that hard.

RIIIIING! RIIIIIING!

Why the hell is his friggin' phone ringing right now?! Who the hell could be calling?! He snatches his phone out of his pocket and looks at the phone. It was _her._ His heart started racing again. Goddamnit! I'm not suppose to hate her! I'm trying to be her friend!

RIIIING! RIIII-

"What?!" Sho shouts into the phone as soon as he answers. On the other end, Marie is caught off guard by Sho's anger. If anything, she'd expected him to just not answer after seeing all that crap about him. Was he just not into her like that? So, maybe he was mad that she'd taken this new friendship and over-glorified it?

"Um!" Marie can't remember why she even called now. "I was-It's-"

"Man. You aren't very good at talking, are you lame Inaba goddess?" He makes a tight fist and hits the wall, attempting to calm his racing heart and rid his face of the fervent flushing. Man, why did he suddenly hate her so much?!

"You! You're such a scarfacedjerk!" Marie shouts over the line. She remembers suddenly that she was calling to invite him to hang out. The weather was great, she didn't want to sit at the park by herself. "I was calling to see if you wanted to hang out!"

"Why should I hang out with you?" Sho laughs. "You're just _that_ bored huh? Or maybe you're just hoping to get some more free food?" He brushes his pants off then walks over to his bathroom and looks at himself in the mirror. His face is red with rage and his muscles shiver with the urge to hit everything in sight, but instead he grabs a rag and douses in it cold water then washes his face. The cold water helps to calm his heart and slowly rids his face of the redness.

"I don't need free anything!" Marie shouts into the phone then makes a tight fist. Why was Sho so mad? Could it be that he just has bouts like this? He _was_ trained to be a weapon after all, so it wouldn't be too crazy to think that. Well, if she wanted to keep hanging out with him, that would be something she'd just have to get use to. "I just think it's nice to have company sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm awesome I get it." Sho tosses the rag into the sink then clears his throat. "I guess we can hang out if you want. Where were you planning?"

"Um...I dunno? The river maybe-"

"We should go to the dojo so I can teach you how to fight!" Sho cuts her off. That's what he could really use right now. Picking up those wooden swords and attacking that dummy had felt pretty amazing.

"You could at least let me finish my sentence you stupidjerkface!" Marie huffs then shakes her head. "I guess that would be fine, as long as afterward we can go to the park. The weather today is so nice."

"Well, you know, if you like the weather like this, just keep it that way!" Sho looks down to his feet. He hadn't even taken his shoes off yet, so going back out wouldn't be difficult at all. Plus getting to go back to that dojo sounded awfully appealing. He jumps up and down for a second then walks out the door. "So, we can meet at the dojo, right lamer goddess?"

"R-Right you stupidscarfacedloser!" Marie feels her face flushing. Sho was being so mean again, maybe even more so than before. What the heck happened? "See you there." She says quickly then hangs up the phone. Letting her feat guide her quickly, Marie heads to the wonderfully secluded dojo. Her mind swirls with a tornado of emotions. Sho _had_ to have seen the poems but rather than confront her, he is mad? And why would someone be mad about that kind of stuff? Wouldn't he just tell her if he didn't want her to think like that? Ugh!

From the other direction, Sho drags his feet toward the dojo, attempting the choke down the boiling anger bubbling in his stomach. He couldn't figure out exactly what he was so angry with, but he could only assume it was because Marie was the only one to know his weaknesses. If that is the case though, couldn't he just beat her up? It's not like she was much of a threat to him. As he gets close to the dojo, Sho sees Marie walking up the road and grunts. He wanted to see her, but at the same time, he really didn't.

"Hey blue hat freak!" Sho calls as he runs up to her. "Ready to learn how to fight?" He rolls his shoulders and playfully punches her in the shoulder. Marie, however, glares at him with a hint of blush on her cheeks.

"My name is _Marie._ I would love it if you could use it!" She opens the door to the dojo and flicks on the lights then turns back to see Sho. He has a strange look on his face, but it wasn't one Marie could pin.

"Marie...loser Inaba goddess...blue hat freak...they all sound the same to me." Sho shrugs the does a flip into the dojo. He flicks Marie on the forehead then laughs as he dashes away. Marie makes two tight fists then charges after him. Despite moving as quick as she could, Marie ends up darting past Sho as he jumps into the air to avoid her attack. "Aww. Did you think you could catch me?" He teasingly places his hands over his heart. "Better try harder." A menacing smile splits across his face as Marie takes a deep breath and tries once more.

"SHUTUPSTUPIDJERKIHATEYOU!" She shouts this at the top of her lungs as she runs toward him at full speed. Still, Sho dodges out of the way, laughing. With a huff, Marie stops and angrily turns to face him.

"Such anger!" He laughs, holding his stomach. This time, when he sees Marie run toward him, Sho doesn't move. Instead, he holds one foot out, causing Marie to trip. Her reflexes are quick enough that she doesn't smack her face into the mats but she isn't exactly thrilled about being tripped.

"Why'd you do that?!" She stands up and brushes herself off. "I thought you were going to teach me to fight not be a total jerk!"

"Oh! You want to learn to fight do you?" Sho grabs a wooden training sword and throws it toward Marie. Reacting as quickly as she can, Marie catches the sword but fumbles it a bit before getting a good grip. "You have a lot to learn." He laughs, picking up a sword of his own while watching her fumble the piece of wood around. Marie feels her face turning red, but somehow, she was still having fun with him, despite him being unusually mean. Now, if she could only figure out what made this deviant attitude surface, she would be much happier.


	9. Chapter 9

While attempting to teach Marie to fight, Sho comes to the conclusion that he is an awful teacher. His short temper causes him to yell at Marie more than he would have liked and his superior knowledge in fighting led him confused as to how someone could _not _know some of the things he was explaining. More than once, he had flicked the sword out of her hands, swung his sword easily past her faulty stance to poke her in the stomach (or on the nose) or darted behind her to knock the hat off her head. In less than an hour, Marie had decided to throw the sword and storm out of the dojo. Sho had watched her go and was a little confused by her anger. All he did was show her where she was weakest. Never have an opening. Maybe he should have let her hit him a few times so Marie would have felt a little more pleased?

Thinking fast, he runs toward the door and looks outside, hoping she was still close enough that he could try again. But, by the time he'd decided to check, Marie was already out of sight. With a disappointed shrug, Sho goes back inside and attacks the dummy angrily. Little did he know, Marie had just darted behind the dojo. She watches him train for about a half hour through one of the small windows before she decided to head back into town. While the weather was nice, Marie no longer felt like spending her day with Sho. Instead, she wandered down the main strip of town. As she passed the tofu shop, she saw a familiar brunette.

"Rise?" Marie calls from the open doorway. Dressed in some casual clothes, white bandana and apron, Rise turns around and waves to Marie.

"Hey Marie!" She smiles and walks to the doorway. "I'm in town for a bit. How are you doing?"

"I _was_ doing alright." Marie remembers the taunting smile on Sho's face then blushes a little. She grinds her teeth then angrily crosses her arms over her chest.

"Wanna talk?"

Finally tired of killing the pretend enemy, Sho cleans up the swords then turns off the lights. He closes the dojo's door then sighs. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Sho was beginning to miss Marie's company now. Having someone to talk to and hang out with at last was actually a pretty nice change. Especially now that he really was only Sho. Certain Marie wouldn't want to hang out again so soon, Sho sends her a text message.

_'Hey Loser Inaba Goddess, we should hang out again. Don't get so mad next time, I was just messing around, idiot.'_

He sends the message and nods before heading down to the river. Maybe he'd just happen to run into her.

"Well?" Rise questions as she takes off her bandana. Marie had nodded, so she _had_ wanted to talk, but now it was obvious she didn't know what to say. "What's going on?"

"I-" Marie bites her tongue. She can't tell Rise that she's been hanging around Sho. Rise was there at the P1 Climax so she would more than likely be a little upset that, despite everything they went through a month ago, Marie had ended up befriending the guy behind it all. But, leaving out little details here and there, that wouldn't be too-

BZZZZZ!

Marie checks her phone to see the message from Sho and grinds her teeth.

"I made a new friend recently!" Marie blurts as she shoves her phone back into her purse. "It was all going great but then he got really...mean!" She blushes, thinking about how he must have read her poems. Across the tiny table, Rise puts her face on her hand and grins warmly.

"You know what that means don't you?" She giggles.

Stupid blue hat girl.

Sho stomps around a bit before taking a seat in the shade of one of the bigger trees. Even though he'd worked out at the dojo, his body still felt unusually tense. Every time he thought about Marie, his heart skipped a few beats. It was really getting on his nerves. He wasn't going to beat up his only friend! All he wanted to do was go back to just hanging out and putting his past behind him. Sure, once upon a time he only knew how to fight. But he'd been trying to learn how to be a friend. Sho really wanted to be a better person, one people might actually miss. And yeah, he probably had a long ass way to go, but he still wanted to try!

He stands back up, too antsy to stay seated. Pacing back and forth, Sho looks up the hill to see the daycare children playing around on the playground. Many of them ran around in circles, playing tag or something. Sure would have been nice to have been like that when he was a kid. Oh well, fighting and killing stuff had been fun in its own way too, right? Plus, there was no way someone would mess with him now! With one fist pump, Sho nods proudly. As he stands there, absentmindedly watching the children, he watches as one of the younger boys knocks over a girl about the same age as him then laughs and runs away.

The girl gets up and yells at him angrily. The she charges back at him.

_It's just like me and Marie haha._

"No." Marie crosses her arms over her chest. "Am I suppose to?" She is blushing a little despite having no real reason to, Marie finds it hard to face Rise. Didn't that just mean he was a stupid jerk? Wasn't he just a complete, evil -

"It means he likes you silly!" Rise laughs then watches as Marie's eyes grow wide and her entire face turns red. She leans forward and watches as Marie faces the ground.

"No it doesn't!" Marie retorts quickly. "He!" She cuts herself off then timidly pulls her book of poems from her bag. Could she actually let someone read some of her poetry? With uneasy, nervous hands, Marie sets the book on the table and slowly moves it forward. "He read some of these then...got like...really mad. If he liked me..." Instead of finishing her thoughts, Marie lets her sentence trail off.

"Ooo!" Rise grabs the book and opens the pages. Her excited squeal continues as she reads a couple of the poems about the 'shining red' and the 'broken soldier.' As she reads this, Rise can't help but be reminded of a certain crazed man who had tried to kill them all. Yu said he wasn't actually all that bad after everything but Marie would still hate him. So, who could this 'mist blue eyes' be? After a few moments, Rise looks up and giggles. "So you like him too, huh?"

Sho watches the little girl and boy play. Over and over he teases her and pushes her down or flicks her nose. Finally, the little girl crosses her arms and cries. An adult comes over and hushes her. Straining his ears a little, Sho listens to what the little girl says, hoping it might explain why Marie was so upset.

"He's being mean!" The girls points an angry finger toward the now pouting boy. Beside the little girl, the kneeling daycare worker smiles and shushes the dark brown haired little girl.

"It just means he likes you is all." She smiles back at the boy then shoos him away. "Don't let it bother you."

"Likes me?" The girl seems confused.

"He thinks you're cute and wants to hang out."

"Then why's he always ask to hang out but then be so mean?!" She questions grumpilly.

"Well, he doesn't know how else to express his feelings. Sometimes, people think they are mad, but it's really that they like-"

Sho suddenly stops listening as the conversation had gone over his head. How does logic like that make sense?! If you are mean and hate someone how does that mean you actually like them? That has to be the dumbest thing Sho has ever heard. And he was raised by Ikutsuki. Some of those puns were bad, even to him.

Angrilly, Sho takes off down the street. His feet move faster than he was use to so he reaches his house in record time. He enters the house then plops down onto his couch. What an idiot! That lady was telling that little girl the absolutely stupidest thing ever. With a grunt, Sho punches the cushions of his couch then curls up. Before he knows it, Sho falls asleep for the first time in a couple of days.

"I!" Marie bites her lip and shakes her head. "He's fun to hang out with and stuff. I didn't, like, write the poems because of any reason. It's just that I watched him and felt the need to write about it." She shakes her head then yanks the poetry book away again. He was a good friend, or might be anyway. But Marie wouldn't go so far as to say she liked him as anything more than that.

"Weeelllll," Rise smiles and shrugs. "Usually, when you like someone," her voice is sing songy and her eyes glisten with the idea of blooming love. "you can't get them off your mind. So wanting to write poetry and stuff about them is totally normal."

"But!" Marie's mind races and her face turns a deep shade of pink. Like him...like _that_? No way. A few weeks ago she hated that stupid red haired scar face. But her heart did flutter a bit when she looked into his hazy blue eyes. And watching him crumble to pieces in the dojo the other night had made her heart hurt in a way she hadn't yet experienced.

She _has_ watched a few films where stuff like that usually led to them being in love, but Romeo and Juliet was certainly not something to desire! And there weren't people who _should_ be enemies more than Marie and the guy who tried to destroy her town. That just couldn't be true.

"Just think about it," Rise extends her hand and talks in a chipper, here's-how-it-is voice. "You want to write about him, even though you say you're mad, don't you actually kind of want to see him?" She looks at Marie with a cute smile on her face and one eyebrow raised.

"I mean, I guess so." Marie couldn't deny it. Sho was usually fun. And even at the dojo, she was kinda having fun even though he was being mean. Their first few times hanging out had been the best though. He wasn't angry those first few times. And, Marie sighs then, when he really let his emotions show, he'd been heartbreaking. "But, I...I don't think I _should_ like him." Thinking back to the day after that nearly tragic event, Marie remembers how tired they all were. Sho had caused them all so much pain and exhaustion. Rise wouldn't understand if Marie fell for him, surely.

In his sleep, Sho dreams of a great many things. Some memories, some what he thinks might be memories and some things that have never been. But somehow, between his horrible memories of the time spent in the lab, time spent alone and realizing that Minazuki was dead, Marie's stupid face would show up and end his most fearful moments. And somehow her irritating smile had helped him to settle back down and get past the horrors in his mind.

Finally, Sho awakes from his brief nap and sighs. Would he ever get to sleep for more than an hour again?! He stomps over to the kitchen and grabs a water bottle. After popping the top off, Sho takes a long drink and exhales loudly before leaning against the refrigerator.

_It just means he likes you_.

How stupid. Sho finishes his water and walks over to the door and puts on his shoes. He hadn't had a beef bowl in a while and Aiya sounded pretty good right now. So after slipping on his black and yellow sneakers, Sho exits the house with a sigh. Uneasily, he grabs his phone and looks at it for a moment, debating whether he should invite Marie or not. She hadn't responded to his last text...then again, it hadn't been the nicest way to text her...

_Hey Marie. I'm heading over to Aiya. If you join me I'll pay for your miso and salad._

After staring at the send button for a few minutes, Sho finally sends the message then heads toward the small restaurant.


	10. Chapter 10

Marie sits, silently debating whether to tell Rise who she'd been spending her days with. And who – according to Rise – she has started to fall for. As if!

"Rise?" Marie mumbles at first. Smiling perkily, Rise looks to Marie and nods. "If I tell you something, can you try not to be mad?" She twirls her fingers around the rubberized metal hoops in the table nervously. When her eyes look up to face Rise, she sees a warm smile settled there.

"Of course." Rise responds then cocks her head sideways. "What is it?"

"The guy I've been hanging out with..." Marie takes a deep breath. She remembers his goofy smile and all of those dumb puns and a small grin comes to her face. If she could make Rise see this, maybe she wouldn't be so mad. "It's Sho."

"Like...Sho who tried to kill us all? That Sho?" Rise is taken aback. She said she wouldn't be angry, and really, she wasn't as angry as she thought she would have been. Yu senpai had said Sho was just angry because he didn't know how else to bond besides fighting and had always been abandoned...over and over. Senpai had said he just needed friends to prove to him that things weren't all bad, but all of them had just been too afraid to befriend him.

"Yeah." Marie nods then slams her hand down. "But he's not all bad anymore!" She spits quickly and finds herself stumbling over the following words. "Like, I was mad at him when I first saw him and I wanted to beat him up, but he was kinda funny. So, I kept talking to him then...I...said something mean." As she remembers those harsh words, Marie sighs and makes a tight fist. "Then we hung out for a while longer. A few days later we ran into each other again and we spent pretty much the whole day together. He...paid for me to play at the arcade, bought me food and carried my stuff." Marie's face becomes warm as she remembers that day. Across the table, Rise can see this and is surprised to hear how Sho is acting. More than that, she was surprised Sho got out of the TV world and stayed in Inaba, but he did say he had nowhere else to go. And what was the mean thing Marie had said. Ooo, she was so curious! But Marie kept talking, "then we went to the beach, he made a _ton_ of puns but then we talked seriously for a while. It was really nice."

"Sounds like he's turned himself around pretty well, huh?" Rise questions cheerfully. "What did you say to him that was so mean, huh?"

* * *

><p>Not too far away, Sho sits at Aiya, eating his food slowly. Marie wasn't coming. Damnit, had he screwed this up too? He angrily shoves another bite into his mouth, still glancing to the door every time he heard it open, just in case. How was he suppose to know how to act? He tried watching a couple of movies and stuff, but most of the time, they were already friends in movies. And he wasn't exactly saving earth or anything so it wasn't like people were rushing to be his friend.<p>

But how was he suppose to know how people act? Sho looks over to a table of friends and nonchalantly spies on them. They all laugh, tell jokes and playfully punch one another. When one talks, the others listen and continue to respond to them. It was so natural for them. From one topic to another, these guys just chat away happily, not a care in the world. How was Sho suppose to act like that? He didn't have things to talk about, besides fighting and a couple of movies. His life wasn't something to merrily chatter about. Hell, he wasn't all that interesting if you didn't like fighting, death and generalized despair and depravity. Marie seemed like she should go for someone more like Yu. That guy was so irritatingly nice Sho had wanted to punch him in his perfect little face. _He_ could probably make friends so easily. Stupid.

_Even Minazuki could have made friends better than I can I bet._ He sighs then finishes his food but can't find the will to get up. _Minazuki knew how to do everything better than me. Maybe I should have paid more attention to him, huh? Well, that's what I get for being a shitty asshole huh? Heh. Shitty..._

For just a second, he smirks. Then the door opens again. It still wasn't Marie. He pulls out his phone, no new messages. Damnit, he really had ruined it huh?

* * *

><p>Marie however, was still lost in conversation with Rise. She hadn't even felt her phone buzz with Sho's newest message. For a long couple of minutes, Marie had bit her lower lip and sighed before finally looking back up to Rise.<p>

"I told him he should just leave Inaba because no one would miss him." She admits at last. Rise's eyes grow wide. Marie said that?! Man, she must have been really angry. "But as soon as I said it, Sho looked so...sad. But, he didn't want to show it. I kinda felt bad as soon as I said it. Then I saw him look so sad and..."

"Yeah, he's had it pretty hard. Mitsuru and them had the whole file uploaded into Labrys. She told us as much as she could, but he was confined to one space his whole life and continually left in solitude. He never got a chance to learn anything but fighting. Then Ikutsuki just tossed him out because he royally messed up the poor kid up. Sure, he paid for his hospital stay forever and gave him a big inheritance with his passing, but that doesn't make up for anything."

"Yeah and then-" Marie covers her mouth. She'd almost told Rise about the night at the dojo! Her cheeks flare up and she shakes her head.

"What? You can't start and then not finish! I swear I won't tell! I'm not even in Inaba for long!" Rise squeals and wiggles in her seat anxiously. Even if she couldn't share it, good gossip was always great to have.

"He told me not to tell."

"I won't tell! I swear!" Rise folds her hands then crosses a finger over her heart.

"Fine!" Marie sighs and shakes her head. Remembering that night was more painful than she had realized. "Well, one of the nights we hung out, I kinda brought up Ikutsuki and stuff. At first he didn't tell me much, but he mentioned the other half of himself..." Marie's eyes become glossy as she remembers Sho trying to walk as if nothing bothered him. "But then, he tried to fight like...Minazuki?...and he couldn't so then he broke down. He told me you guys killed the other him." Marie feels her eyes watering a little watching as this overgrown boy broke down again in her memories. He had been so vulnerable, so unlike himself. Across the table, Rise watches as Marie's cheeks turn pink despite her eyes beginning to be watery. It must have been a really emotional night for Marie to act out this much. "And he said he was trying to deny it, since that guy was the only other person he'd ever known..." At last, Marie can't say anymore for that last line stabbed her in the heart again. _Just let me say goodbye..._

* * *

><p>At Aiya, Sho droops his head at the bar. His demeanor was so different that the chef finally walks up and clears his throat.<p>

"Something...uh...bothering you?" He asks. But when Sho shoots him an angry look, the man waves his hands and walks away.

Man, he couldn't even react to people trying to be nice right. How was he suppose to make a friend? It's no wonder Marie gave up. Sure, he'd tried to be nice enough, but his attitude was pretty different from most. And even Sho had to admit that his attitude was anything but easy to deal with. With a growl, Sho stands up and shoves his hands into his pockets. With one swift motion, Sho kicks open Aiya's door and walks down the street with his eyes facing the ground.

Maybe he should try to go find her? It's harder to ignore someone if they're in your face, right? And then he could...I dunno...offer to take her to the arcade? Try to be calm enough to sit by the river with her? Whatever. But, what if she just told him to go away?

With a sigh, Sho looked up to the partially cloudy sky. Well, he gave it a valiant effort, but obviously his temper got the best of him. He hadn't even tried to be angry and his temper had flared up. Stupid adrenaline. Stupid bad temper. Stupid stupid.

_It just means he likes you._

_I mean, I guess I do like her...don't I? Otherwise it wouldn't bother me that she was gone. Not being called scarface every couple of minutes is kind of nice, but I'm sure she's glad to not be called a lame Inaba Goddess too. Could my feelings not be anger?_

* * *

><p>"So you bonded pretty quick huh?" Rise's voice has becomes a bit quieter. "Then he got angry?" She questions while putting a finger to her lips. A thoughtful expression comes to her face. "Would he even know what it feels like to <em>like<em> someone?" The question comes out innocently enough, but it makes Marie gasp. Sure, that makes sense! How would someone whose never had anyone care about him know what that felt like?!

"You really think that's what it is?" Marie questions as she feels her own pulse racing. _Ohmygosh, do I really feel the same way?_

"Of course." Rise smiles. "He's like a little kid. That's how kids react right? Because they've never felt those kinds of feelings before." She points to the sky and nods. "It just makes sense. He has really dramatic tantrums, says silly puns... I mean, think about it, even you have to think that makes sense!" She smiles then stands up to stretch. Her hand shields her eyes as she looks toward the sky. "Is it getting that late already?" Rise snatches up her phone. "Oh man! I have to get back to the shop!" She grabs up her apron and bandana then waves to Marie. "Sorry to take off so fast, talk to you later!" Then she is gone before Marie has time to respond.

Marie stands up and stretches. They really had been talking for quite some time. She grabs her phone to check the time and sees she has a missed message from Sho. A look of irritation comes to her face but then she reads it. He...used her real name...

Suddenly, Marie's breaths become short. Her grip on her phone becomes horribly tight. Rise was right, he was really trying but he just didn't know how. He said himself, fighting is what he knows. How was it his fault that no one had taken the effort to show him anything else?

But, oh man, could that really be Marie's job? Her heart races and she feels a little flush. Sure, he was fun when he wasn't trying to kill everyone. And yeah, he had a really cute smile when he allowed himself to do so. And, heck, some of his puns were even pretty funny. But, teaching Sho how to be a true friend and...maybe more...Marie gripped her purse tight. She honestly wasn't sure she was ready to try that.

Swallowing a tight lump in her throat, Marie remembers the text message said he'd be at Aiya. Maybe he's still there somehow. She was freaking out, like really freaking out, but she couldn't think about that now. He probably thought she had given up on him and she made a promise! While they hadn't known each other long, Marie knew better than to break a promise! If things didn't work out, she would at least let him say goodbye. She refused to be another person to just abandon him again!

Then, without her realizing it, Marie's feet take off down the road, heading for Aiya.


	11. Chapter 11

After spending some more time with Marie, Sho heads on home. Once there, he settles onto his couch, turns on the television and mindlessly flicks through the channels. Suddenly, a commercial for a nearby amusement park comes on. Sho watches the ad and his eyes light up. _That_ certainly didn't look boring! And, oh man, if he invited Marie, she'd probably make some funny faces and freak out a bunch. Heck yeah. Sho grins viciously just thinking about it, so before the hour is too late, he grabs his phone and rapidly types out a message.

_You'd better not make any plans for tomorrow! _

He sends the message then smiles. Again, he watches the television while figuring out how much money he would need to pay for the train ride there and entrance to the park. As he places that, plus some spending money of course, into his wallet, Sho's phone beeps. Not wasting a second, he snatches it up.

_I don't have any plans yet...but what are you planning?_ Her message was simple, but Sho can hear her nervously responding. She didn't really trust him fully yet, and that was fine. They would still have plenty of fun together.

_Can't tell you. Just meet me at the train station tomorrow. 8am sharp._

The rest of the night, Sho excitedly envisions the many roller coasters and crazy rides they would go on. He imagines Marie will be scared but not want to admit it. Her face will be priceless! Before he knows it, the sun is rising outside so Sho rushes to clean up a bit then makes himself a quick breakfast. Yeah, it was nowhere near time to go, but he didn't want to be late so he heads to the train station to wait for Marie to show up.

Her alarm clock goes off at 6:30 sharp and at first, Marie can't remember why she would have set an alarm for such an early hour. But then she remembers the text messages she had gotten the night before. Sho had some sort of plans for them. What could they be? Thinking about it, Marie's face turns pink so she decides it better to ignore the thoughts and just get ready. By 7:30, Marie is dressed and ready so she heads out the door. Her breath is short and she can't help but be a little nervous about what might be going on today, but at the same time Marie was super excited. It wasn't often that someone planned something special for her.

She hurries to the train station and sees Sho pacing impatiently. When he sees her, a huge smile cracks on his face and he waves. The excitement on his face causes Marie to blush but she grabs her purse with one hand while waving with the other.

"Hey!" She shouts nervously while walking up to meet him. "What are we doing today?"

"Hmm...I wonder." Sho grabs her arm and drags her onto the appropriate bus without giving her an answer. On the way there, Sho sways his head back and forth and cracks his knuckles. Sitting beside him, Marie feels the excitement radiating off of him and can't help but become excited even though she has no idea what is going on. But every time she tries to get an answer, Sho just responds with an 'I dunno' or a 'maybe nothing...' The longer they are on the train, the more impatient Marie becomes, but then she sees the amusement park from the window and gasps. No way, had he planned that?

"Are we going there?!" Marie was so excited that she actually shouted a little. She hadn't been to the amusement park before, but she always thought it looked like so much fun. When she looks over to Sho, the answer is painfully obvious. The proud look on his face makes her almost bounce in her seat. "Where'd you come up with that idea?"

"It wasn't anything special. I just kinda...saw it and decided we should go." He scratches the base of his head and shrugs. Sho hadn't expected her to be this excited he was a little thrown off by her elation. He stands up as the train comes to a stop and stretches his arms. "Hope you're ready."

They hurry off the train and up to the amusement park gates. Sho buys two tickets then they both enter the park gates and stare to the wide array of rides in amazement. It looks so much cooler in real life then it had on the tiny television in his room. He looks around the park and feels himself getting pumped up as he sees super tall roller coasters and rapidly spinning swings. Beside him, Marie looks around and doesn't know what to expect. Some of the rides just looked so...big. If she knew Sho though, those would be the ones they'd be going on. She looks up to meet Sho's eyes turning at the same time.

"Well, let's go!" Sho grabs her hand then darts toward the nearest roller coaster. Marie tries to keep up but finds herself being half dragged along the park. Once they reach the line, Marie looks up to Sho and sees his eyes glistening as he watches the coaster click slowly up the hill then rocket down the other side. His anticipation makes Marie smile a bit, to the point that Marie doesn't even realize he still has a tight grip on her hand. When their turn comes, Sho hurriedly climbs into the seat and almost seems to be bouncing around in place. Meanwhile, Marie nervously straps herself in and tries to swallow the fear welling up in her stomach. That hill is _really_ tall. Oh man.

Then the ride starts to move.

"Sho!" Marie grips her seat so tightly that her knuckles turn white.

"Oh come on! This'll be fun!" He shouts, but he can see that Marie is genuinely afraid. Taking a deep breath, Sho grabs her hand. "Just squeeze hard if you're scared."

The first couple of seconds on this rollercoaster as the cart climbs slowly up the lift hill makes Sho's heart race, but perhaps that wasn't the only reason. Leaning back as his pumping heart is so loud he is sure Marie must be able to hear it over the clicking of the chains. He looks down to Marie's hand and he can feel the grip there tightening with every click, building up tighter and tigher as she seems to be trying to build the strength to scream. Her face looked back for a moment as if wondering if she couldn't turn around now. Somehow, despite wanting to feel the rush from falling, Sho realizes he might not mind if she somehow managed to press the stop button and slide back down, so they could at least stay in this spot for a little while longer.

But when the coaster drops down the other side, Sho howls in excitement. This rush felt great, made his heart race in almost the same way it did when he fought a powerful opponent. Finally, he's found something else to help his anxious body get use to living from day to day. When he looks over, Marie's face is ghostly white but a grin is planted on her face. Obviously, she was having fun in her own weird way, despite the death grip on Sho's hand. By the end of the ride, Marie has lightened up and actually admits to having fun. Therefore, they hurry into line for the next coaster. Screams and laughter follow the coaster all the way through to its final stop but by the end of the third coaster, Marie finds that she's no longer afraid, so the two of them run around the park with all the velocity and excitement of children.

While waiting in line for another coaster, Sho looks over to see a parent sitting with a child sleeping in a stroller. He sighs and raises an eyebrow.

"Shit. Being able to sleep in a place like this..." He looks at the sleeping kid then nods. "I'm pretty jealous. I can't even sleep at home." Sho rubs the top of his neck then shrugs.

"If you couldn't sleep then why did you come here?!" Marie slaps Sho's shoulder and glares at him. She didn't need him to pass out from exhaustion at the amusement park. What would she even do? There's no way Marie could carry him around. Not even kinda.

"It's not like it's anything new. I haven't slept in weeks." Sho admits with a shrug as they step forward in line. He scratches his head then looks up to the sky. It was beautiful today, a perfect blue sky with spots of fluffy white clouds.

"Weeks?! Seriously, what is wrong with you?!" Marie stares up at him and can't decide if he's lying or not. His eyes didn't have huge circles under them and he seemed to have a pretty vast abundance of energy, but what reason would he have to lie?

"Since Minazuki left, I just haven't really been able to sleep. That's all." Sho shrugs then they are waved into the coaster.

"Well maybe after this ride we should rest of a bit, I mean, you don't want to overexert yourself youstupidinsomniac!" Marie follows suit, strapping up and preparing to ride the sixth coaster of the day. She looks over to Sho and sighs. What an idiot?! Who goes to an amusement park on no sleep?

"Rest? Here?" But look at all the rides left!" His face lights up as the coaster begins whirling up the hill. "We can rest later, right now it's time for fun!"

After this, Marie stops trying to argue. He was obviously too stubborn to take a breather. They hurry from ride to ride, trying out every one they came across. A couple of the rides leave Marie a bit dizzy, but Sho doesn't seem affected at all. They stop only long enough to buy some delicious snack food and a gigantic drink. While eating, they wander the park deciding what to do next. Upon seeing the game section, Sho looks around for a few things he knows he'd be good at. Finally, he finds one of the hammer games and sees a pink stuffed bunny that had to be nearly the same size as Marie.

"I'm gonna win you that." Sho points to it then takes a sip of the huge drink. He hands the drink to Marie then casually steps up to the game. When it's his turn, Sho rolls his shoulders and makes sure all he has to do to win the rabbit is get the top score. With a chortle, the man working the machine nods.

"Just don't break this one!" Marie shouts from the sidelines. The rabbit _was_ pretty cute, but...where would she put something that big? Upon hearing Marie's words, Sho nods and the game owner looks over at her and raises an eyebrow.

Then Sho swings the heavy hammer and the score rockets up. The weight hits the gong loudly then slams back to the ground. Placing the hammer on the ground, Sho steps back to watch the high score climb higher and higher. Hopefully he'd put enough force to not break the machine but also get the top score. The score climbs only a few points over the current, but it was still enough to win the giant bunny. Surprised by the teenager's strength, the man grabs the bunny down and hands it to him. When he turns around, Marie watches as the largest smile she'd seen on Sho's face is plastered there as he eyes over the giant rabbit. He was so proud that he had won it but instantly, he shoves the rabbit at Marie.

"I'm sure you were really_hopping _to win this, so here you go." He watches as Marie tries to figure out how she could carry the giant rabbit. She shoves it under her arm and watches as children left and right become jealous. Surprisingly, Sho turns around and plays a handful more games. Each time he wins, he picks the largest, most ridiculous stuffed toy and gives it the the child nearby who wasn't having much luck. From this, Marie watches a handful of overjoyed children run to their parents and show off their prize.

It was so sweet that Marie could barely contain her smile. Sho may have had a hard life, but when it came to making kids smile, he sure seemed to know the tricks. Parents stood nearby and were shocked to see the teenager hand over toy after toy, seemingly wasting away his money. Most teenagers would play for their own prizes and flaunt them around, but this punk didn't seem to want anything of his own. More than once, Sho had even asked a couple of the younger children what toy they really wanted. When doing this, he would get onto one knee and have them point. Sure, once or twice the parents had initially been worried when this blood red haired punk started talking to their son or daughter, but as soon as he won them a prize and knelt back down to hand it to the starry eyed child, the parents would nod and give a heartfelt thank you.

The sun was slowly setting in the distance, so Sho decides to stop playing games and drag Marie along to the last few rides. They laugh and continue to go from ride to ride until the sun dips fully beyond the horizon. Occasionally, a kid would run by with one of the prizes Sho had won and wave to him once more while saying thank you again or tell their parent 'that guy' was the person who'd given him the prize. Marie felt her heart swelling, it had been so sweet of him to do, but why didn't he try for a prize he would have liked instead? After a few more rides, she finally decides to ask.

"So, why'd you just...give all your prizes away?" She wonders while petting her giant, fluffy bunny. Sho turns around and raises an eyebrow.

"What else would I have done with it all?" He shrugs. "I just wanted to play them all. I don't need some stupid reward to have fun. And all those kids really wanted them, so why not?" Sho looks toward the sky and nods. "The park's probably gonna close soon, one more ride?" He grabs her arm, not entirely understanding why it was unusual to just give away stuff. It wasn't like there was anything he needed at those booths. And kids need toys and stuff, right? Well, _normal_ kids anyway.

They enjoy their final coaster then head back to the train station. After a long ride home, Marie follows Sho back to his house. Together, they enter the home and Marie is a little taken aback by the desolate living space. But, they sit down on the couch and order a pizza to relax after the long, fun day.


	12. Chapter 12

Sho flipped through until he found a scary movie. They sit together, watching the movie with Marie gripping the couch at every little jump. Then, as the music crescendos, a knock at the door makes Marie nearly fall out of her seat. Laughing with each step, Sho saunters over to the door and takes the pizza. Setting the pizza on the ground in front of the couch, Sho grabs Marie's shoulder.

"Are you ok?" He laughs loudly. "I'm pretty sure I saw your skin crawl for a second there."

"Shutupstupidjerkihateyou!" Marie takes a deep breath and tries to calm herself, but then a scary face shows up on the screen so she grabs Sho's arm. "Turn this off or I'll never be able to eat!" She snatches for the controller, but Sho is quicker. He holds it up high and touches his hand to his chin.

"Man, I take you to the amusement park, order you pizza but you won't even let me watch a movie? That's not very considerate!" He laughs as Marie storms over to the tv and turns it off. With an over-exaggerated pout, Sho set the controller down then sits down next to the pizza box. Finally feeling her nerves calming, Marie sits down too and takes a deep breath of the cheesy smell. It really had been quite a fun day. She had to give him that. It was probably one of he most fun days she'd ever had.

"I hate scary movies!" Marie growls. Then she snatches up a piece of pizza. Eying it, she sighs, this wasn't exactly healthy but at least it was food. She had to give herself a reward every once in a while right? Looking up after taking a bite, Marie watches as Sho folds up the pizza and takes a huge bite. He even had the appetite of a little kid.

"But scary movies are great! They get your adrenaline running, get your heart pumping and leave you on the edge of your seat. That and action is the best." He speaks as he chews up his food then takes another large bite. The busy day had left him really hungry, so he was sure he would finish _at least_ half of this thing with no problem. While ordering his pizza, Sho had considered getting his usual. Extra peppers and jalapenos with sriracha sauce slathered across the whole thing, but he'd seen the look Marie had given him when he'd eaten that super spicy tuna roll. Instead, he decided he would order the regular ol' pepperoni pizza.

"I'm alright with action but, horror is too much! It's so scary!"

"You scare too easy!" He laughs while grabbing up a second piece. "Every scary movie is just a bunch of stupid people making dumb mistakes. I mean...if you are trying to kill a vampire, you can't make a miss stake!" Sho laughs at his joke then takes another giant bite of his pizza.

"Well not all of us know how to take care of ourselves as well as you do!" Marie takes a few more bites of her pizza then sighs. She shakes her head as Sho's laughter doesn't subside right away.

"Well that's why you have me!" He pushes her shoulder playfully. Sho hadn't said it to embarrass her, but Marie's face turns brilliant red. So he decides to give her a break and finish eating instead. After they finish eating, Sho puts the last few pieces of pizza into the refrigerator then takes his seat back on the couch. He hands Marie the remote then leans back into his seat.

Marie flips through the channels with a yawn then is caught off guard by Sho laying his head on her lap.

"My couch, my space. Don't like it? Deal with it!" He stretches himself across the couch, allowing his feet to hang off the edge. Marie's face burns brilliantly, but she breathes deep and attempts to simply continue searching for the perfect thing to watch. She finally finds some true crime show that seems at least mildly interesting, so she puts down the remote and sighs. "You had fun, right?" His voice sounds quiet and lulling but the words sound genuinely concerned.

"Yeah. It was really fun." Marie looks down to him and sees his seemingly tired face brighten with a smile. He actually looked pretty cute laying there like that. With a quick gasp, Marie shoots her hand to her mouth as her face turns red. Lucky for her, Sho had turned back to watch the television as this was a type of show he found interesting.

They sit together silently watching the show. As Sho continues to lay upon her lap, Marie's hand starts to unconsciously scratch at his scalp. At the feeling of Sho's softer than it appears hair, she looks down and feels her heart start to race. Why was she petting him?! Sho isn't a dog! But, when she stops moving her hand, Sho tiredly whines, so Marie takes a deep breath and begins moving her hand through his brilliant red hair again. This results in Sho releasing a barely audible moan, of course causing the already bright pink on Marie's face to grow.

She continues running her hands through his hair until the blush on her face goes away. Even though they'd had a lot of fun, Marie couldn't get over the fact that she _should_ hate this guy. But as he laid on her lap, Marie couldn't be angry and she didn't feel afraid of him at all. Laying like this, Sho looked sweet and peaceful, if you could look past the crazy hair and jagged x shaped scar. In his, what Marie assumes to be, near sleep, Sho smiles a little as he truly seemed to enjoy the feeling of fingers in his hair. This, of course, grows a small smile on Marie's own lips.

"If you're tired, just go to sleep." Marie tells him, but when she curls her body over to look at him more closely, Sho's eyes are closed and he doesn't respond what-so-ever. So, being interested in the show and not wanting to disturb the one sleeping on her lap, Marie gets comfortable and listens as the narrator explains how they were able to solve the case and figure out who the murder was despite the lack of evidence on scene. But before the conclusion of the episode, Marie's eyes have closed and she had joined Sho in an exhausted sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Kanji and Rise are sitting together outside, the sun had just set and they had both had long days at work. Kanji had picked up a large tofu order from Rise's shop and, since she was also done for the day, they had decided to head to Sozai Daigaku. It had been a while since the friends had chatted and some croquettes had sounded pretty good.

"-Yeah and Ma tried giving me some hints, but I still can't match hers." Kanji sits back in his seat, obviously upset. He'd _really_ been trying to get dyeing down, but he just couldn't seem to get the hang of it.

"Ooo, she must be really good." Rise giggles. "I'm sure you'll get there too Kanji-kun!" She takes a bite then points to the sky. "Oh I got to chat with Marie yesterday!" Her eyes glisten as she recalls the day.

"Oh how is she? I haven't seen her in a while." Kanji takes a drink of his Dr. Salt Neo as he questions about the bizarre weather goddess chick.

"She's pretty good! But she's falling in love with Sho and doesn't want to admit it, that silly-"

"She's WHAT?" Kanji slams his can down and stares at Rise with angry eyes. That's the asshole who had nearly killed them all! What the hell was Marie doing with him?!

"Well, I guess he has really turned himself around, and she's falling for him." Rise shrugs as she doesn't see the big deal.

"But he's a lunatic!"

When the morning sun finally penetrates Sho's eyelids, he slowly opens his eyes and is first met with the face of a large pink bunny. It sits resting against the coffee table. Upon the table are two half full glasses of what is sure to now be cola flavored water. Groggily rubbing his eyes with one arm, Sho can't remember the last time he has slept this good. That amount of sleep really left his mind feeling groggy. What the hell was a giant pink bunny doing in his living room? It was so friggin' pink and almost as big as -

Sho suddenly realizes what he lays on isn't a pillow. He jolts awake and jumps off the couch. Stammering about, Sho looks down to see Marie sleeping with her head on her shoulder. She had stayed that way all night so he wouldn't wake. Stupid girl! She should have gone home where she would have been comfortable.

Then his heart starts racing and his face turns red. Not this again. He stumbles into the bathroom and turns on the water. For a second, he lets the water run as he stares at himself in the mirror. How weak must he have become to fall asleep beside someone his body still recognized to be an enemy...But...he was trying to be a good friend. And she had fun yesterday right? She even said she did. So obviously she was becoming his friend too. Then why couldn't his body get the hint?!

Angrily, he strips off his clothes then stands under the cooling water, letting his temperature slowly fall back down. In the water, he runs his hand through his hair then stares at his feet. What the hell was going on? Yesterday had been perfect then he wakes up and feels like _this _again. Ugh, this shit is friggin' irritating! He shoves his face under the lukewarm water, hoping it might help to wash away his negative thoughts.

After a while, it finally did. He allowed the water to wash over him and pretended he was somewhere – anywhere – where he wasn't so unsure. Eventually, he started to wonder if these feelings really could be something else. But, if he..._liked_ her like that...then he'd have the biggest weakness of all. Not that having one weakness would be all bad. But...

Hey, at least if that was the case he'd have something to fight for again. And this time, no one would want to kill him for it, right? Could be a good deal.

But that would mean he liked her! His heart jumps into his throat so he shakes his head and tries not to think again by simply running the water over his red face.

In the living room, Marie's legs had suddenly felt cold and started tingling. She opens her eyes and stretches. Despite staying in a rather uncomfortable position all night, she had actually slept pretty good. Then she remembers where she had slept.

Oh..my...god! She starts slapping her tingling legs and looks around. At last, she hears the water running in the bathroom. Her face turns a deep shade of pink as she brings her hands up to her mouth. How could she have done that?! She actually fell asleep...in his house! On his couch! With him sleeping on her lap!

"Uuuggh! I'm suppose to hate that stupidredheadedjerk!" She blurts then snatches up her life-sized bunny and squeezes it tight. As she holds the super soft rabbit, Marie can't help but sigh. Yeah, she's suppose to hate him...but she really just can't. He has done so much for her in such a short time already. Sure, they'd only been friends for a couple of weeks, but he'd really shown her how to have fun and let loose a little.

Feeling fidgety, Marie stands up and tries to figure out what she would do. When her stomach growls, she realizes what she should do. Hurriedly, she darts into the tiny kitchen and scours it for something she could make for breakfast. There were plenty of eggs and some toast. That should be easy enough. Sure, it wasn't fancy, but it would suffice.

As she hunts for a skillet, Marie thinks about the movies she's seen with romantic mornings just like this. Of course, her face turns even darker red. But, it was too late to turn back now! She fumbles the skillet causing it to clang off the kitchen floor but she places it on the stove and starts to turn on the burner. With shaking hands, Marie cracks open the first egg.

Still in the shower, attempting to make sense of his thoughts, Sho hears a loud clang. Well, Marie must be up. But what the hell was she doing? He turns off the water and grabs his light brown towel to quickly dry up. After pulling on his clothes from the day before, as he hadn't thought to grab clean clothes, Sho walks out while still drying his crimson hair.

Almost as soon as he reaches the kitchen, the smoke detector starts to beep. He sees smoke filtering from the stove and Marie frantically attempting to figure out how to put out the small kitchen fire.

Sighing, Sho drops his towel on the ground, grabs a lid and tosses it over the skillet then turns off the burner. He looks to the carton of eggs and sees that three are missing. How in the hell had she burned eggs?!

"Well good morning to you too." Sho smiles at Marie who's face is almost as red as his dripping hair. Wasting no time, Sho cracks open the kitchen window then hits the button on the screaming smoke detector.

Standing as if glued to the ground, Marie takes deep breaths, attempting to calm her racing heart. She had burnt the eggs because she'd been so worked up over something stupid. Then, Sho had to come on the scene, dripping and beautiful...OH GOD! Had she seriously just thought that. Finally, Marie sighs and hangs her head. A lot of good she was.

"Oh, don't get upset. I'll clean up and cook us up something. Don't fret." Sho walks back to the stove and grabs the skillet. He cleans out the black and brown remnants of the egg there then dries if off. With the towel still over his shoulder, Sho carries the skillet over to the fridge. He grabs a red pepper, some butter and cheese then tosses it carefully into the skillet. Not missing a beat, Sho spins around and closes the refrigerator door with his heal then starts to prep for breakfast. Thinking quick, he starts a pot of coffee, something Ikutsuki had instilled in him earlier than most children for sure, then grabs a cutting board and knife.

Marie stands in the same useless spot and watches Sho move about the kitchen with such confidence. He knows how to cook?! What is this trickery! How could someone like that know how to cook with such ease? Well, he must have lived alone for a while so he would have had to learn, huh? But, he chops the pepper up quickly and mixes the eggs with such skill. He even adds a touch of milk and sugar to the eggs before plopping them into the skillet. This couldn't be real life. And his hair is still shining and dripping onto his shoulders. It's actually quite beautiful to look at.

Before she realizes it, Marie smells a most magnificent smelling meal. When she looks to the skillet, she sees that Sho has prepped her a perfect looking omelet. The eggs were perfectly fluffy, peppers had been slightly cooked and the cheese was melted expertly. Not noticing Marie's look of disbelief, Sho slides the omelet onto her plate and hands it to her.

"Now, don't go and ruin this one, ok?" He then turns back to make his own food. "Forks are in the top drawer on the left over there." Sho informs as though he had seen her glancing about the kitchen. Finishing his pepper heavy omelet, Sho joins Marie at the table with that and a bottle of sriracha. She watches as he drowns the poor masterpiece in a pool of the spicy sauce. He takes a few bites then uses his sleeve to wipe some of the water dripping from his bangs.

"Th-thanks for breakfast showoffyjerk." Marie stutters after she takes her first absolutely delicious bite.

"I guess you could say I just have to stick to my name!" He laughs a little then takes another bite. "Get it? It's funny! Laugh!" Sho picks up his napkin then crumbles it and throws it at her. Marie looks up to him and sighs. It was hopeless. She really was falling for the enemy and there was nothing she could do about it.


	14. Chapter 14

A short while after breakfast, Marie's phone rings. She smiles then stands up to stretch. Sho looks up to her, unsure why she suddenly seemed amped and ready to go.

"That's my friends." She says quietly. "They were hoping to hang out for a bit and maybe catch some lunch later. Do you want to come?" Marie asks this then furrows her eyebrows. Actually, maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea...

"Nah." Sho takes the last drink of his coffee then kicks up his feet. "They are _your_ friends. I don't think they'd really want me to tag along." He leans his chair back so that it's only balancing on two legs. Secretly, he'd kinda hoped Marie would stick around the rest of the day. But, the other people were her first – and real – friends. Sho was sure he hadn't really made the rank of a real friend just yet. Really, he might not ever. Shrugging at the thought, Sho closes his eyes and sighs. "Have fun. If you get bored, I'll be around."

Then, just like that, he was alone again. The silence around him becomes suddenly deafening. Sure, it looked great outside, so he could go for a run or work out in town, but Sho couldn't really get himself to get up from his chair. Something in his chest tugged at his heart and he couldn't quite pin point it. His heart, despite being pulled at, felt a little lighter and his chest felt warm. Was this happiness or...relief? It wasn't exactly a feeling he knew all too well, that much was for sure.

As Sho searched within himself, he finally pinned down what the feeling was. It _was_ relief. Relief that Marie hadn't abandoned him after all. Sure, he'd thought she had but it was obvious she was still giving him a fighting chance. Marie hadn't left him alone, she'd just gone to see her other friends. Unlike Sho, Marie actually had other friends. Sometimes, Sho forgot that people actually had connections. This was a relatively new concept to him, so figuring out how to share his time with someone would be tricky.

With a smile, Sho sets his seat back down and stands up. He'd finally done it. After all these years of solitude and constant rage, Sho had finally made a happy connection with someone. And he had done a pretty damn good job of it too. Thinking of how many smiles he'd seen on Marie's blushing face yesterday really brought it home that, against what he had thought, Sho was doing a decent job at this whole friend bullshit.

Finally someone who wouldn't just walk out of his life. He cleans up the kitchen with an awkward grin, wondering how long it will be before he sees Marie again. And she even promised to let him say goodbye if she did decide to leave one day. This feeling was one Sho would be glad to get use to.

Meanwhile, Marie walks down the road, she was going to be meeting Yosuki, Teddy, Rise and Kanji for lunch and probably go to town together. It had been a while since they all got together. Not since Yu left Inaba again anyway. She was a little excited to see them all. But at the same time, she kinda wished that Sho would have been able to come too. A piece of her already misses his goofy personality and brilliant eyes.

When she reaches Junes, Marie sees Rise, Kanji, Yosuke and Teddie. Merrily, she waves her hand. They all wave back at her as well. She wonders where Chie is, but then remembers that she had been very seriously studying for her police exams.

"Marie-chaaaan!" Teddie bounds over to her and envelopes her in a large hug. This causes a slight blush to come to Marie's cheeks but nothing as bad as the blushing she had experienced in the last couple of days.

"Come on Ted, leave the poor girl alone." Yosuke pulls Teddy of Marie then throws an apron at the exuberant boy. "It's almost time to get back to work anyway!"

"Aaawwww!" Teddie releases Marie. "But she just got here!"

"It did take you a while to get her Marie." Rise agrees. Normally, Marie wasn't very far from here, so her walks there didn't take long.

"I...was...at a friends." She scratches her temple then takes a seat, holding her purse close. As she does, Marie realizes she's left her giant bunny. A little piece of her heart drops as she really did like that stupid stuffed bunny. Quickly, she grabs her phone and shoots Sho a message.

_I forgot my bunny. If you can, bring it by Sozai tonight at 4. If not, I'll come pick it up soon._

"Ooo! A sleepover! That sounds fun!" Rise giggles then covers her cheeks with her hands. "I haven't had one of those in forever!" She starts to chatter on, but beside her, Kanji looks at Marie with an angry, uncertain expression. "Oh! I bet you watched some new movies! I wanna watch some too!"

Sho had turned to sitting upside down on his couch while throwing a tennis ball up into the air, trying to hit the ceiling, but not so hard that it would bounce away from him. His long legs hang over the back of the couch and kick up and down as his body was getting antsy from just sitting around. He tosses the ball up into the air again then hears his phone.

BZZZZZ!

With one hand, Sho catches the falling ball then grabs his phone and spins it around as he attempts to read it. Upon doing so, Sho glances over to see the large pink bunny sitting in the same spot it had been. It had the dumbest expression on its face. Sho didn't really understand why she liked it, but oh well. Quickly, he does a back flip off the couch and grabs the fluffy pink ball of fur. He picks it up and flops it back and forth while making faces at it.

Sigh.

After dropping the bunny to his side, Sho looks at the clock and exhales loudly. What was he going to do for another three hours?! Sure, he could just go up to Sozai now, but that'd be just as boring as sitting here. Well, just as boring isn't any worse then right? Taking a deep breath, Sho slips on his shoes then looks to the bunny.

"Well. We're going to be outside for a while. No running away." He rolls his eyes then walks out the door, holding the bunny by its chunky, pink arm.

After chatting and having a round of drinks, Rise and Marie finally stop talking for a bit. Teddie and Yosuke go back to working, not happily (especially Teddie, who whines until the other three can no longer hear him) but they know they were only on break. Taking the opportunity, Kanji leans forward and clears his throat. He looks back and forth, then just before either girl can start talking again,

"So!" he blurts at last. "I have a question for you." He looks over at Marie with disgust.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Marie squirms in her seat. Before Kanji could even talk, Marie felt she knew what it was about already. Kanji was always a little hot tempered and slow on the uptake so Rise must have let it slip that Marie was hanging around Sho. This could get pretty ugly.

"Not here Kanji-kun." Rise growls through clenched teeth.

"Then lets go somewhere else..." He stands up and tosses his jacket over his shoulder then walks toward the elevator.

"We don't have to go if you don't want." Rise waves her hands and shakes her head, but Marie knew what was coming and, even though she wasn't sure what she would say, she decided now was as good a time as any to confront Kanji.

Clenching her bright blue purse close, Marie stands and follows after Kanji.

_Only 2 o' clock?! _Sho slams his head onto one of the small tables. _God, this is friggin' annoying!_ He looks over at the rabbit and slams his hands down.

"What's your friggin' problem?!" His voice is anything but quiet, so the owner of Sozai glances out to look at him with baffled eyes. This was pretty much the weirdest sight he'd seen in quite some time. Guy in punk attire sitting at a table with a giant stuffed rabbit. And now this weirdo was even talking to it...definitely odd.

While sitting at the table, Sho strains his ears when the sound of chattering catches his attention. One of the voices sounds like that announcer idol girls squealy voice. The other one sounds like some big lug. They are talking over one another, though the guy sounds a lot more angry than...Risette? Was that her name?

"Of all the people in this town why that asshole!?" The guy's voice finally becomes decipherable.

"Kanji-kun stop yelling at her!"

"I mean, I just wanna know what she's thinkin'."

There's another voice there, but it's so quiet Sho can't quite tell what it sounds like.

"Or so you think! Just cuz he's been different for a couple weeks-!" He stops as the quiet voice mutters something again. "Yeah, but we aren't psychotic lunatics!"

Sho grumbles. They were talking about him, weren't they. Great. He'd hoped the investigation team had all forgot about him or something.

"Well, I _was_ feeling a bit bored." He snatches up the bunny then faces it as he talks. "And I've never been one to turn down a fight, ya know?" Then Sho runs toward the arguing voices, carefully holding the pink bunny under his arm. Sure, they weren't going to want to see him, but Sho wasn't usually one for caring about others much so he didn't care if they wanted to see him or not. He wouldn't sit back and let them talk shit about him. This is finally where he belong! This town holds the only person in the entire world that gives half a shit about him, so he's gonna fight for it now.


	15. Chapter 15

Sho catches up to the trio and instantly recognizes the third person. It was Marie. Damnit, he didn't want to fight around her!

"Speak of the devil!" Kanji glares at Sho then.

"Yeah, I could hear your loud ass all the way from Sozai, so I thought I'd come say hello." Sho's face contorts into a teasing smile.

"What're ya doin' hanging with Marie all of a sudden?" Kanji wastes no time in getting to the point. He cracks his neck then clears his throat.

"Well, obviously, it was just to bother you Mr. Beefcake Emperor." Sho had recognized this big lug as soon as he'd seen him. Kanji's shadow had caused shivers to rocket through his spine.

"What'd you say?!" Kanji growls.

"Enough guys, come on..." Rise tries to calm them both down.

"I thought that was his name..." Sho shrugs then he waves at Marie. "Brought your bunny." He starts to hand it to her, but Kanji steps in between them.

"No, you're talking to me right now." Kanji squints his eyes at Sho.

"Oh, my bad. Didn't realize you made all the rules of this damn town." Sho growls. Sure, he was good at keeping his calm when he was with Marie, but this asshole was really starting to rub him the wrong way. He takes a deep breath then looks over to Marie, hoping she might give him the strength to calm down. But her nervous expression does little to calm Sho's heart.

"I don't trust you. Why should I?" Kanji asks, ignoring Sho's comments.

"You shouldn't! I'd beat your face in without thinking twice! If you don't want to like me, that's fine! I don't give a shit!" Sho grinds his teeth. "But! Me and Marie are friends now and that's all there is to it!" His words come out before he realizes what he has said. Sho looks over to Marie as if to make sure he was correct in his assumption. A nervous smile comes to Marie's lips when he looks over to her.

"Uuugh...you really annoy me!" Kanji punches his own hand.

"I could say the same to you! You stupid bleach blonde bitch!" Sho's fighting spirit was itching. He flexes his hands, preparing to fight if the moment arose.

Suddenly, Kanji turns to Marie. He points a finger to Sho. "_That_ is suppose to be better?"

"Kanji you aren't-" Rise starts, but Kanji cuts her off.

"He almost killed every living person here! He admitted himself that he doesn't give a shit about any of us even now! And it wasn't just here either, he wanted to take out everyone on Earth! He's insane and a couple of weeks isn't going to fix that!" Kanji's words were strong. "I can't let you hang out with someone like that! I don't him to hurt you! And if you're gonna keep being an idiot then I can't be your friend. I'm not gonna watch you get hurt." He looks at Sho with angry eyes then takes a deep breath.

In that moment, Sho realizes the issue of his existence. Yeah, Marie had accepted him. But that didn't mean everyone else had. He looks from Kanji to Marie and sees a troubled look on her face. This wasn't fair, damnit. She was his first friend! Shit! With a sigh, Sho realizes there's no way she was going to pick him over her other friends. Cuz, yeah the others might not mind as much as Kanji, but eventually, the moment would come that she would have to choose...Sho couldn't make her do that.

Time freezes for him in that moment. His brain spins, not being sure what to do. He wanted to tell Kanji to fuck off, but he wanted to think of Marie more than himself. She was more important than him. All Sho was good for was killing things. Kanji's right. He really was crazy to think he could fix himself that easily. _God, I'm such a friggin' idiot._

Sho looks over at Marie and feels a familiar pain in his chest. Slowly, he takes a deep breath and sets the rabbit down on a clean looking patch of sidewalk. Time slowly begins to speed up. Trying to come to terms with what he was about to do, Sho feels his eyes start to water. Damnit! He didn't want to do this! But he has to, for Marie. If he made the choice for her, she couldn't feel guilty. As he lets go of the rabbit's fluffy arm, Sho feels his eyes start to water but he refuses to let it show. After a few deep breaths, Sho looks at Marie with sad eyes.

"I guess...this is goodbye." He looks her over then turns tail and runs. His heart felt like it might shatter, but he refuses to let the rest of them see it. Sure he might be saying goodbye...but at least he got to this time. Sho makes a tight fist, he wouldn't look back. It would only hurt more if he did.

Standing back, dumbfounded, Marie watches Sho leave and can't decide what to do. Sure, she wanted to remain friends with Kanji kun, but Sho had been trying _so hard_ to be a good friend. And the look Rise had when Marie had told her wasn't exactly one of excitement either. So, by losing Kanji, Marie might slowly lose more friends too. She didn't want to disappoint her friends, but the look in Sho's eyes had tore her heart in two. Man, what was she suppose to do?

"I...need to go home and take...all this in..." Marie speaks quietly, picks up her bunny, then darts away in the opposite direction Sho had gone.

Once home, Marie flips through her poetry books. She had wrote a lot about Yu and the others. That was for sure, but despite only knowing Sho for a short amount of time, she'd filled a few pages about him as well. Gah! What was she suppose to do?!

Sho wanders down near the river and comes to a very familiar tree. This is where he and Marie had met. His hand unconsciously reaches out to touch the rough bark there. Man, it had only been a short time, but Sho felt like he was losing everything. He'd finally made a friend, too bad her friends hadn't been so willing to see past his faults and accept him too.

But at least he'd been able to say goodbye.

Maybe if he was lucky, he'd be able to see her around and give her a smile. He knew if it rained that she would be in need of a perk up, so he'd be able to try and bring her some coffee or something. But...not being able to mess with her every few days would be missed. And getting to see her embarrassed smile would be something else he'd miss for sure.

One tear slides down his cheek then he punches the tree. But, one punch wasn't enough. Angrily, and perhaps with a hint of sadness as well, Sho slams his fists into the tree trunk over and over again. _Damnit, damnit, damnit!_

"Hey scarface!" Kanji finds Sho punching the tree and takes it as his chance to stand up against the crazed teenager.

"What do you want now?" Sho's voice is tiredly annoyed. He didn't have the spirit to deal with Kanji right now.

"Why do you stick around this town?" Kanji questions, not realizing that Sho doesn't seem to be in a confrontational mood.

"I don't have anywhere else to go. What's it matter to you? You guys never noticed me before." His voice is quiet when he turns to face Kanji. Rise comes up on the scene and sees the two men facing one another and assumes it will end in a fight.

"You could go wherever you want, then why stay in the town you find so boring, huh?"

"Because it never mattered before." Sho sighs then he sticks his hands in his pockets. "If you want to fight me just do it. I don't care."

Rise watches him and thinks back to the P1. He didn't stand down there even when he was on his last strands of life. So...this wasn't the same at all. Sho didn't even seem to _want_ to put up a fight. Didn't he say that was all he knew? Then, maybe he _had_ learned a few new things.

"Maybe I _do_ wanna fight you!" Kanji grabs a nearby trashcan, having remembered Sho's immense strength from the P1, and gets ready to swing. He didn't seem to realize that Sho showed no interest in fighting back.

* * *

><p>Marie's head was still spinning. What should she do?!<p>

Then, as if struck by lighting, what Sho said before leaving hits her. _I guess this is goodbye._ That was his promise. He had wanted to be able to say goodbye if he thought she was going to abandon him. Obviously, he must have thought that was happening now.

But, he hadn't even given her the chance to think or say goodbye. It wasn't fair! She looks over to the pink bunny and makes a fist.

Suddenly, Marie stands up and takes off. She didn't know where Sho was, but she was going to find him. Her heart wasn't ready to say goodbye to him yet! And if that meant upsetting some of her other friends for a while then so be it!


	16. Chapter 16

God this is stupid. Just as soon as he got use to having a friend, he had to let her go. Sho sees what Kanji's about to do, he just doesn't have the heart to stop it. If this is what Kanji thought he needed to do to make sure Marie was safe then so be it. Just before the metal hits, Sho closes his eyes.

WHAM!

_Shit. That really friggin' hurt._ Sho falls to the ground but doesn't stay down long, despite the ringing in his ears. He pushes himself off the ground with an empty laugh. The impact had hit him pretty hard in the side, but he couldn't let it show. Not yet. He's certainly endured worse than anything this big goon could dish out.

Plus, he had to deserve it right? He _had_ tried to kill them all. Then he comes along and befriends one of their friends and just expects them all to take it? This would be his payment. Plus, the physical pain _might_ just help him to ignore the pain within his chest.

"Heh, is that the best you've got?" Sho taunts weakly as he stands back up. From the sideline, Rise tries to say something but her voice doesn't work. This wasn't the Sho she remembered watching during the arena.

"You know, you are pretty annoying you know that?" Kanji sits down the can and holds up his hands. In return, Sho pretends he's gonna attempt to dodge. Not wanting to waste a second, Kanji swings his hand hard, just in time for Sho to drop his defenses. He couldn't even pretend. His heart really just wasn't into it. Marie was his new thing to fight for, if he didn't have that then what was the point? He lost his dad, Minazuki, was refused his world of solitude but got forced into a solitude he could never have imagined. Then he makes a friend and finally learns to smile, heck, Sho's pretty sure he's even made her happy a few times. The punch slams into Sho's cheek, breaking his thoughts and nearly knocking him over. A small line of blood trickles out of Sho's mouth.

"Is that so? Well you make my eyes hurt. Who keeps their hair like-" He gets cut off by a hard punch to the stomach. All the air exits his lungs and for a second Sho can't seem to inhale. Sure it hurt, but it _was_ helping. After a bit of this, he wouldn't be able to think about Marie anymore.

"Kanji I think-" Rise tries to stop him by calling out.

"What? Don't think I can take care of myself Risette?" Sho looks at her with what could be a grin, but Rise has seen that look before. There had been many times, back in the TV world, where the team was trying their hardest but just couldn't do it. It was the look of defeat and the sadness of not being able to do anything about it. And yet, somehow despite this, his face doesn't hold an expression of pain but rather one of someone who has been through this all before. But his voice was harsh and venomous. With an overly confident motion, Sho wipes the blood from his chin. "Come on, I thought you were suppose to be the body builder of the group? What's with these weak hits?"

Rise's eyes watch Sho closely. Was he _trying_ to make Kanji angry? It looked like he wasn't trying at all to fight back. Was he _trying_ to get beat up? Why would he even do something like that? It didn't make any sense. She watches as Kanji hits Sho hard enough that the taunting red head falls to his knees, yet still Sho laughs and teases him. While watching this fight in confusion, words suddenly started to come back to her.

_"Then why's he always ask to hang out but then be so mean?!"_

"_But then, he tried to fight like...Minazuki?...and he couldn't so then he broke down. He told me you guys killed the other him." _

"_And he said he was trying to deny it, since that guy was the only other person he'd ever known..." _

Marie had said all of this while talking about _this_ Sho. He wasn't the same one they had fought. Half of that Sho died when the arena was destroyed. And _this_ Sho was falling in love with Marie. It was no wonder he wasn't putting up a fight.

"_Well...I guess this is goodbye."_

He thinks he's lost her! I have to stop this! Rise steps forward, then Sho starts to mention Kanji's shadow. This guy really knows how to rub people the wrong way, huh? Taunt after taunt about Kanji's flamboyant hidden self...

Not too far away, Marie can make out the shape of Kanji and Sho. She pushes herself to run as fast as she can. As she gets closer she sees Kanji kick Sho in the side, knocking the red head to the ground. Sho hadn't even tried to dodge or fight back. What was that idiot doing?! Rise opens her mouth to scream as she swears she hears a crack.

The scene seems to move in slow motion as Marie is able to see it all. At first her muscles freeze. She's afraid to step between them because that really will be the sign that she's picked Sho over them. But she couldn't stand back and let this happen. Marie had already made the mistake of letting him leave once today, she refused to let him leave again. This time she would make the _right_ choice. Sho didn't have a friend in the world besides her. He'd already lost his father and the person who was pretty much his twin, she refuses to let him lose another person so soon. That sadness had been too much to bear.

"Kanji stop this!" Marie shouts at last as she makes it to the place where she and Sho had met. Her eyes look to the fallen man and she darts over to him as quickly as she can. Rise runs up at the same time and grabs Kanji's strong arm.

"Sho! Wh-what are you doing you...youstupidjerk!" Marie looks him over and can't believe Sho got this beaten up. Had he defended himself at all?

Confused, Sho looks up. Sure, the world was spinning a bit, but he wasn't _that_ messed up right? Was Marie actually here, despite what her real friends wanted? He grabs his head and sits up.

"Nice friends you've got there." Sho's voice is weak but he looks up to Kanji and Rise with a smile. "They are willing to fight to keep you safe..." He grimaces a little when he sits up. Man, his chest really friggin' hurts. "Better keep them close. I'm sure he'd have put up a good fight, even if I _had _been trying."

"Wait what?" Kanji had been so heated by Sho's taunting he hadn't even realized Sho hadn't taken one swing. He scratches his head then looks down to the battered teen at his feet. "You weren't..."

"You didn't notice?" Rise squeals. She knew he could be a bit daft, but that seemed a bit much.

"Well, he-he kept sayin' s-stuff about how I was a beefcake emperor and said my shadow scared the crap out of him cuz of all it's damn flowers and shit!" Kanji's face is suddenly a little red. "I just- I mean..." Knowing there wasn't much more he could say, Kanji turns away. He felt pretty bad now. What kind of idiot just stands there and lets himself get hit?

"Are...you gonna be ok?" Marie doesn't even look to her friends behind her. Sho was all she was focused on right now. He had to be in pain, but he barely showed it at all. His blue eyes look up at Marie and he smiles.

"I will be now." His grinding taunts had ended and the sound in his voice now was one Rise was sure she'd never heard from him before. It sounded almost like Minazuki's voice had. So calm but this one was...warm? Was that the best way to describe it?

Sho's smile stays planted when he sees a slight blush come to Marie's face.

_She picked me...somehow...she really came back..._

Then everything went black.

* * *

><p>Don't worry guys! Kanji hasn't lost his mind! He's going to apologize soon. We all know his temper, especially when his "girly shadow obsessed with flowers" is being thrown in his face. Poor guy just missed the - we-don't-wanna-kill-this-guy-anymore memo! Thanks for still reading!<p> 


	17. Chapter 17

Sho feels his eyes opening before he manages to look around. He's home again. But how? The last thing he remembers is letting Kanji beat the living shit outta him. How'd he end up in his bed. With shaky arms, Sho tries pushing himself up. His head feels like it weighs a hundred pounds and his chest screams with pain. He'd really let that big goon lay a few good ones on him. Grunting when the pain in his chest rockets up through his back and neck, Sho decides to lay back down. It's not like he was going to miss anything anyway. About the moment Sho closes his eyes, he hears feet rushing into the room.

Who in the hell was wasting their time taking care of him? When a warm rag touches down to his cheek, Sho realizes the feeling _is_ pretty nice. But seriously, he would be fine. Why was someone -

"You stupididiot." Marie speaks to Sho, not realizing he'd awoke only seconds ago.

The sound of her voice causes Sho's heart to jump into his throat. It hadn't been a dream! She really had come back for him! Somehow, this crazy little goddess has decided to stand by him, despite all his insanity and less than glorious past. God, if only she knew...would she really want to stay? He had so much blood on his hands...Sure, he'd almost had _all_ the blood on his hands, but even before that he had nothing to lose. No one would accept him, he had no family, he really had nothing to lose. But, now he almost felt like he was lying to her. Here Marie was, taking care of him as if he hadn't been forced to care for himself through pain far worse than this his whole life. But would her eyes stay as warm if she knew how many times he'd had to follow Ikutsuki's rules and kill something _or someone_ just to prove his lack of conscious and guilt?

"You didn't have to go and get yourself beat up." Marie speaks so softly as she cleans up Sho's face. She gently cleans up the line of blood, careful not to push too hard on the sore spots. "It wasn't that I didn't want to keep you around, you just didn't give me time to say anything. And then you go and say goodbye." Her grip on the towel tightens for a moment but then she exhales and continues. "I'm not ready to say goodbye just yet."

"Why?" Sho asks quietly. Marie jumps back and her face turns brilliant red. How long had he been awake? Man, she'd said some things she hoped he didn't hear an hour or so ago. No one's suppose to hear her poetry...let alone poetry about his eyes and the starry night sky.

"Why what?" Marie responds quickly, hoping he wouldn't see her inner turmoil.

"Why didn't you want to just say goodbye?" Sho smiles and forces himself to sit up. He watches as Marie reaches toward him to help, or stop him, but once Sho is upright – despite the pain filled grimaces – he leans back and faces her. "I mean, your real friends obviously care about you and if you keep being my friend, you might upset them. Why not just leave me and keep all your real friends happy?"

"What do you mean real friends?" Marie sits in the chair she'd pulled from the dining room. "You are a 'real friend' too, youstupididiot."

_You are a real friend too..._The words don't seem real. Sho looks to her confused.

"I don't get you." He says at last. His head was spinning pretty bad, especially now that he was sitting up. The pain made him feel strangely alive though, so he couldn't help but smile a little.

"I don't get you either! You go and make a decision for me then go and get yourself beat up? I mean, what the heck is with that!?" Marie can tell Sho is in pain and wants to help but she honestly doesn't know what to do.

"Fighting, pain and solitude are the things I know best." Sho says these words coldly. "I don't want you to lose your friends to my solitude, so I went back to what I knew best. And somehow..." Could he tell her the real reason he wanted Kanji to beat him up? "Somehow I thought if I allowed myself to get hurt physically..." God this was embarrassing. His cheeks actually turn a faint shade of pink. "That the pain in here-" he touches his chest, "would go away." After speaking, Sho licks his teeth and swallows the lump that had grown in his throat. He looks up to see Marie's face burning bright red.

The two of them sit in silence for a minute until Marie grabs a shirt from beside the bed. She had searched the house for a clean shirt and was somewhat surprised to find them in the most logical spot. Hanging in the closet. For a guy, he kept his place pretty neat. With faked confidence, Marie hands him the shirt.

"We need to change your shirt. This one is all dirty and bloody." She tries to sound confident, but her voice cracks halfway through. When Marie looks down to Sho, however, she sees a look upon his face she didn't expect to see. Was that uncertainty? No, it was more powerful than that.

Sho shakes his head. "Not here." He rubs his arm with one hand then slowly pushes his legs toward the side of the bed. If she wanted him to change, that was fine. But he wouldn't do it in front of her. After all, there is a reason he always wears long sleeve shirts...

"But-you need help!" Marie hops up and tries to help, but Sho pushes her away.

"No." His eyes meet hers and Marie sees a whole lake of unspoken worries. What was the big deal? She'd gone to the beach with everyone, it's not like she hasn't seen a guy in less than just a pair of pants. With a painful expression, Marie remembers Kanji's swimsuit. Ugh.

"Just let me help you!" Marie moves her hands to unbutton one of Sho's buttons, but he grabs her hand and pulls it away.

"I don't. Want. Your. Help." He speaks in a bland tone of what feels like disgust. Sho looks to his chest then his eyes seem to fill with a repulsive look before they turn to look toward the wall. "I'm...sorry." 'Sorry'...that was a weird word to say. "I'm not angry with you."

"Then just let me help!" Marie is a little embarrassed, sure, but she knew how beat up he was and she didn't need him hurting because of his stupid pride. She grabs at his shirt then looks up to see a nearly heartbroken look upon Sho's face. If she hadn't known better, Marie might have thought he was nearly in tears, but Sho doesn't move to stop her this time. If Marie wanted to be his friend and really wanted to help, then she would have to learn more about his past somehow. So why not let her see for herself?

As soon as the first button is undone, Marie's eyes grow wide. She'd thought the scar on his face was bad, but somehow she'd kind of thought that was the only one. But, as she unbuttoned his blood splattered, dirty shirt, Marie sees this is far from true. Upon Sho's chest, arms and back are a wide array of scars. Some looked like they might be from knives or swords, one in his chest looks surgical, a few look like burn marks...there were so many of them that Marie couldn't help but reach out to touch one. A year ago, she'd felt so scarred inside...it was like she was seeing how badly she once felt upon the skin of another.

Sho watches her with eyes of uncertainty. So far, she hadn't looked at him with disgust...Then her hand reaches out and runs gently along one of the scars. The feeling was one Sho hadn't felt before. He'd never let anyone see this part of him. Yeah, they all found out he'd been a big experiment and sure, the people in the hospital probably knew, but no one else had ever seen this. While he pretended to think highly of himself, Sho couldn't deny that looking at his body often caused horrid memories to flow through his damaged mind. Dad certainly had made him stronger, but it was at quite the cost. He'd be trained to withstand just about anything and, yeah, it was a good thing because now pain was more of an after thought, but the scars weren't exactly beautiful to look at.

Though Marie's gentle touch made Sho wonder what she could be thinking. She didn't look disgusted or angry or anything. Instead, she traced over a few of the scars without saying a word. Of all the reactions he'd expected, _this_ was certainly not one of them. And, because of this, he didn't actually mind her fingers tracing the jagged scars. Actually...if felt kind of nice. No one had graced him with such a gentle touch before.

At last, Marie's teal green eyes look up to face Sho and he sees a look of what he thinks might be...understanding? "I'm sorry." Marie's voice is quiet and considerate. It sounded as though she really might get it.

"For what? It's not like it's your fault." Sho rubs his arm and remembers the many, many tests. Getting use to electric shock had caused a few on his back and side. Learning to "properly deal with sword damage" were what most of the ones on his arms were from. Then there was the surgery...Sho's fingers trace that scar in painful remembrance of his lost half. "I've dealt with it all. You don't need to feel sorry for me."

Marie watches him and can tell that sometimes memories could be worse than the lack there of. She both really wanted to know what caused all of these but also feared learning more than she would know how to deal with. How can one person have so many scars? Thinking she was being stealthy, Marie slightly moves her finger and eyes to start counting.

"I think there's.. .a hundred seventeen up here." Sho had seen what she was doing. He'd done the very same thing the first time he'd stood before a mirror.

"A hund..." Marie's voice trails off. She couldn't even say it, let alone think about everything he must have gone through to get that many scars. Yeah, he'd been an experiment...but Marie didn't realize just how bad that must have been. At last, her hand stops tracing the scars and pulls away. Finally understanding his reluctance, Marie grabs the shirt and sets it beside him.

"Don't look so guilty, idiot." Sho tries to make light of the situation as he stands up and puts his shirt on. Yeah, the motions hurt, but he could do this himself. He glances toward Marie as he slowly buttons his shirt to see her blushing again.

"You don't have to say stuff like that youstupidjerk!" She bites her lower lip then nearly jumps out of her seat as a loud knock echoes through the house.

KNOCK KNOCK!

It was someone at the door. Who would be coming here? She gets up to see, but before she can, Sho walks over to it and swings the door wide. The faces standing there weren't ones he'd been expecting.

Outside his house was a violently blushing Kanji and a smiling Rise. Kanji holds something bright red in one hand while beside him, Rise has two large boxes.

"Why...?" Sho can't fathom why they would be here.

"Kanji wanted to come and apologize for being a big ol' bully!" Rise holds up her boxes. "And I wanted to make sure you were ok." She lets herself in then turns back to Kanji and clears her throat at him while tilting her head toward Sho. "I brought some food from my shop to help you feel better, and there's some tea and cookies and-" She continues blabbing about the gifts she had brought to apologize as she hunts for the kitchen.

Still in the doorway, face brilliant red, Kanji finally holds out his hand.

"I-I didn't, ya know, make it _all_ today, but I put it together so...um...here!" He shoves a little knit doll toward Sho. It's a little knit red kitten key chain. The face looks like it had been put together rather quickly, but was a silly, angry expression. Dressing the kitten is a green shirt and pair of little black pants. "I had been practicing making stuff and, well..." Kanji can't even face Sho as Sho takes the kitten and looks at it with one eyebrow raised.

"What the hell is this thing?" Sho spins it around in his hand. _Ok, it is actually kinda cute...but like hell I'm gonna admit that!_ He cocks his head to the side. "It this suppose to be like cat Sho or something?"

"I made it!" Kanji growls angrily. "But yeah, I guess. It's an apology."

"Eh." Sho sets the kitten down on the table then looks over at Kanji with a weird expression. "No apology needed. Remember, that's how I make connections." He laughs with a painful expression as the laughter hurts his chest. "That's what Yu said right?"

Marie walks out of the bedroom and sees the two of them together and can't help but be a little afraid. Yet, when she looks more closely, she realizes that they are both smiling. How had this worked out?

"Yeah, and Rise kinda told me that you've been different. Plus after beating you at your own game, I felt pretty bad." Kanji feels his blushing dissipating as Sho really does seem like a totally different guy. He'd been careful not to mention the 'love' word that Rise used. All he needed was Sho getting all worked up again. "So...I'm gonna try this again." Kanji clears his throat and holds out his hand. "I'm Kanji Tatsumi!"

"And I'm Sho. And you're pretty friggin' weird you know that?" He looks over to the red kitten key chain again and can't help but be a little excited. Did this mean...he's made more friends?

"Like you can talk!" Kanji makes a fist then takes a deep breath to calm himself down.

Marie smiles watching them all together. While it may not have been the best route, things really seemed to work out in the end.

Rise bounds back in the room and announces that food is ready. She smiles when she sees Kanji and Sho playfully arguing.

Somehow, Marie felt like things would be even better than she'd imagined.


	18. Chapter 18

"Sir, according to Shirogane's reports, it is suspected that the target still resides within Inaba." The voice speaks quickly and sternly. "With the Shadow Operatives spread out and the Investigation Team's leader currently outside of Inaba, now would be the optimal time to take action."

"Our prisoner testifies to the fact that the defenses are currently down and the target is weakened. Should we take action now?"


	19. Chapter 19

The next day, the four friends decide to get together once again, this time to enjoy a movie together. Sho reluctantly agrees to the arrangement and prepares for a day out with the boisterous group. Together, they head to the theater and debate what movie to watch. Rise instantly goes for the cheesy chick flick but – with a red face – Kanji venomously disagrees. When Sho votes for the horror flick, Marie shoots him a violent glare then he laughs and waves his hands in front of his face. Kanji wants to see the action flick, and Sho seconds his choice, but Rise just can't stand the thought of seeing more violence after what had happened the day before. So, they end up buying four tickets for the comedy matinee.

After purchasing a giant bowl of popcorn and four drinks, they all sit down and prepare for the movie. Sho sits in between Marie and Kanji while Rise sits on the far side of Kanji. Never having actually been to a theater, Sho didn't really get the point. So every couple of seconds Rise would yell at him, knock his feet down from the seat in front of him or attempt to explain what the point of the ads were and why they couldn't just skip them. Each time Kanji would try for a bite of popcorn, Sho would steal the bowl and move it just out of his reach, leaning so far over Marie that her face would turn a brilliant red.

For the first time in his life, Sho was surrounded by people that didn't actually seem to mind that he was a human weapon. After a few foul blows, they had become closer than he could have thought possible over night. But, over coffee and cookies, they had shared many of their stories with Sho and eventually just let him meld right into their strange little word. He laughs and drops his defenses while waiting for the movie to begin and can't believe how light his spirit seems to become. What a strange feeling.

When the lights begin to dim, Sho jumps forward in his seat, preparing for – what he assumes to be – a fight of some sort. The three don't quiet understand why this would be his first assumption, but they laugh quietly then shush him. After three attempts, Rise finally gets the point across that theaters killing the lights was just...normal.

"But why? Sho looks around and sees all the people just accepting this. "This is stupid."

"Shh!" Marie tugs at his sleeve, attempting to get him to sit and relax. In return, Sho tosses a piece of popcorn at her then attempts to settle into his seat.

But then the movie starts.

For a few minutes, Sho watches the screen with a bored, dumbfounded expression. Where was the violence? Where was the gore? Where was...anything? He didn't get this shit.

"What the hell is this?!" Sho juts his hand toward the screen and shouts. Multiple voices in the crowd shush him. "Shhh yourselves you friggin' idiots! Who watches this crap?!"

"Sho shuuuudup!" Kanji smacks Sho's arm. Despite his words, Kanji seemed to be seconding Sho's thought as his face looks equally as bored.

"Why? Is there something wrong with my voice?" Sho taunts him then kicks his feet up, landing his feet between two couples in front of them. They look back at him with angry glares. "Whaaat?!"

A roar of shushes echo from the theater.

"Sho, seriously, people don't talk in the theater. That's one of the rules." Rise whispers to him calmly. "Just sit back and watch, okay?" She smiles warmly, and Sho tries to do so. "Just cuddle with Marie and be happy." Sho shoots Rise an angry glare. "Whaaaat?! Come on, admit it you looooove her!"

"What the hell's that suppose to mean?!" Sho growls and puts a fist in the air toward her, but Kanji pushes him back down.

"Oh, just sit and be quiet." Rise pouts. With that, Sho plops back into his seat and tries to enjoy this idiotic 'comedy.' He really does. But god, this movie is so stupid. What's funny about this?! Plus the comment about _love_ was too much. It made an uncomfortable feeling swell in his chest. After a half hour, he releases an over exaggerated sigh then groans.

"This is stupid! I can't do this!"

"Hey asshole shut up or I'm gonna come and beat your ass!" Shouts another guest a few aisles up.

"Oh yeah!? I'd love to-"

"Nonononononoooo!" Kanji stands up and waves his hands in front of them both as Sho stands up to fight.

"Please no!" Rise places her hands over her heart.

Marie just sits beside him and can't help but giggle a little. Who would have known going to a movie would end up being so humorous? The guy a few seats looks up at the big guy trying to intervene the fight and can't help but be a little intimidated, so he sits back down and angrily crosses his arms over his shoulder. With a shake of his head, Sho climbs his way over Kanji and Rise grumbling about how he was going to leave and go somewhere at least mildly entertaining.

Once outside the theater, Sho just wanders down the street, not exactly sure what he wanted to do. Then, he decides to go to the book store and do some research. His heart had been trying to tell him something over these past few days and Rise's – although teasing – words had really hit a chord. Love? That couldn't be. No way.


	20. Chapter 20

Sho walks through the bookstore, eying the many, many sections and can't decide where to stop. Therefore, he grabs a handful of books from different sections. Some from the chemistry section, some from the psychology section, all of them on what it means to be in love. He plops the handful of books down on a small table then sits awkwardly in the store's plush brown chair. With unsure hands, Sho flips through the pages, reading all about what it feels like to be in love, how your body typically reacts and feels his own heart racing.

He knows all of these feelings far better than he'd expected. But this couldn't be right! Frantically, he begins searching through the pages. He isn't able to admit, even with this stack of evidence, that what he's feeling _could_ be love. No friggin' way.

One book after the other, Sho skims through, scanning the pages for new information, stories to explain something else that his feelings could be. But nothing else seems to fit.

"Bullshit! This can't be right!" Sho drops the pile of useless books back to the return cart then grabs a few different graphic novels and sits down to read their take on love.

While reading, he finds his chest racing as many of the scenes reminded him of things he and Marie had done. And as he read, he couldn't help but wonder what some of the other signs of love might feel like. A hug? That just seems weird. Though 'cuddling' on her lap had been nice so, Sho had to admit it might be nice. And this whole kissing thing just seems odd. But, everyone else seems to like it. It's in, like, every movie ever. He's seen plenty of stupid, mushy couples walking through the park doing so.

"This is such shit! What the hell?!" He shoves the dramatic graphic novels back onto the shelf and when he turns around, Marie is right behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Marie smiles. "I thought you were going somewhere more entertaining." She teases him about how boring he had once said this store was. Sho's eyes grow a little wide and his heart pounds in his chest. Man, what should he do? Should he tell her what he'd been doing here?

"I was..." He scratches the back of his head then looks back to the graphic novels. "Some of these are kinda good." Then he points at her and growls. "Plus, anything was better than watching that stupid movie."

"It was pretty bad." Marie admits with a giggle. She watches as Sho heads toward the door. "Where you going now?"

"I dunno. What do you want to do?" Sho walks past the store owner and sees them give him an odd look as his face had bruised up. "What?!" He barks harshly, causing the librarian looking woman to turn away quickly.

"I dunno, I think it would be nice to sit and watch the sun set." Marie sighs, knowing Sho would probably rather do _anything_ but sit at the cliff and do nothing. But when she looks over, Sho has a strangely calm smile on his face.

"Then lead the way." Sho opens the door for her then follows close at hand.

"You're really different now, you know that?" Marie remembers when they met. It hadn't been all that long ago, but the changes in Sho were more than a little apparent. Sure, his temper still spiked up pretty regularly, but it was nowhere near as bad as a few weeks ago. He was able to walk next to her and not seem antsy for a fight.

When the reach the cliff, Sho sits beside her and together, they silently watch the sun set. Once, Sho considers doing as he'd seen in one of the novels...her hand was close, all he had to do was move it, but he couldn't get himself to do it. His pulse raced to fast when he thought about it. Stupid heart, acting up and making stuff hard to do.

Once or twice, Marie had glanced over to Sho. She couldn't believe that he was sitting here with her like this. Looking at him, made her cheeks warm. This guy – who only a few weeks earlier – Marie would have gladly kicked out of Inaba entirely, had now stolen her heart. His obnoxious red hair and vibrant blue eyes. His incessant use of puns and even his temper – to a degree – had won her over. He was so absolutely stubborn but at the same time, he was so honest. And there was a strange sense of innocence to him. She couldn't quite place it, but it was almost as if he was being allowed to experience childhood and taking full advantage of it.

Just as the sun settles past the horizon, Marie's phone buzzes. She looks down to it and smiles.

"Rise and Kanji wanna know if we want to join them, along with the others, at Aiya for dinner."

"All...of them?" Sho was still a bit unsure how to deal with this whole idea of friends. Controlling his temper had gotten a lot easier, especially when he was near Marie, but being around an entire group? That could be a bit...tiresome. But, seeing the happiness on Marie's face at the thought of them all getting together, Sho sighs and stands up. He reaches his hand down to Marie, even though his chest still screams in pain. She grabs his hand and smiles. "I could use a beef bowl. And I can't have a cheaper meal to pay for when it comes to you." Sho teases her.

"You don't have to buy my-!"

"Ah! No angry goddesses tonight!" He pulls her hand, nearly tripping Marie. Seeing this near topple, Sho can't help but laugh a little.

"Uuugh stupidjerkihateyou!" Marie grumbles, but smiles at him warmly. She glances down to his hand, wondering if he realizes that he hasn't yet let go. Deciding she actually rather liked this, Marie doesn't say anything.

Once they reach Aiya, Marie hears the whole bunch chatting already. Her face is a bit red as Sho still hadn't let go. But when he grabs the door, Sho lets go of her hand and motions for her to go inside. When he sees the girl in green, the weird Teddie guy and the second in command at the table with Kanji and Rise, Sho takes a deep breath and walks that way.

"Woah woah woah!" Chie sees Sho and jumps up to face him. Apparently, Rise hadn't blabbed to her about Sho just yet. "Whaaaat are you doing here?!"

"Um...I was coming to eat?" Sho shrugs.

"Chie it's okay!" Rise shouts from at the table. Looking back to see a round of nods from the table, Chie faces Sho again and points a finger in his face.

"They might be ok with you, but you have yet to prove yourself to me!" She crosses her arms then taps her toes. "I challenge you to a meat-eating contest!"

"Chiieee not everyone-" Yosuke starts, but is cut off by Sho.

"Meat...eating...really? _That's_ what you're going with?" He smiles. "If that's what you choose, I might have to warn that you may be _meating_ your doom." Sho laughs at his stupid pun then grabs his stomach. At the table, Marie grins as he seems to instantly mesh with the quirky group.

"Oooo! Let's just see buddy!" Chie orders them two mega beef bowls then points to the seat across from him. While the orders are cooking, Yosuke stands up and takes a deep breath.

When Rise had called to tell him about Sho and Marie, Yosuke had tried to take the place of their leader. He wrote a speech and practiced it all night. Like, seriously, all night. But , as he walks toward Sho, the words vanish from his mind. So, by the time he reaches Sho, Yosuke is scratching the back of his head and clears his throat.

"Yooo..." He starts. "So, um. We all want...to um..." Yosuke stumbles over his words and finds it hard to even look toward the slightly annoyed – but mainly amused at Yosuke's lack of class – Sho. "We all know you uh.."

"Oh man Yosuke! I can bear-ly stand to listen to you mess this up!" Teddie calls from behind him. "Last night, the speech was senei-sational, but now this is just un-bear-able."

"Shut up ya dumb bear! I'm trying to make a point here!" Yosuke playfully threatens Teddie.

"A point of what?" Sho questions. "How much of a friggin' idiot you are?"

"Oooo, I don't think he 'nose' who he's messing with!" Teddie teases.

"I can hardly 'bear' this friggin' bear's puns man." Sho grins as he joins Teddie in his teasing.

"Hey, that's my thing!" Teddie whines.

"Are you 'fur' sure?" Get it, FUR cuz you're made of fur!" Sho laughs then he and Teddie go back and forth making one horrible pun after the other until the two mega beef bowls reach the table.

With nods, Chie and Sho scarf down their food at record time, leaving the rest of the table in silence as they are all both a little horrified and impressed.

Even though he'd been afraid to be around them all, Sho finds himself fitting in better than any of them had expected. He spends most of the night on the verge of a fight with either Kanji or Chie but in a more friendly way than he has ever experienced. Each time he felt his temper getting the best of him, Sho would look over to Marie and her calm, happy expression would help to remind him that this would all be for the best in the end.

After spending a couple of hours together, listening to the Investigation Team tell each other stories, and attempting to put his two cents in every so often, Sho finds himself feeling a lot more comfortable with the idea of friends then he'd ever imagined. As Rise starts to tell Chie and Yosuke about their attempt to see a movie, Sho actually laughs a bit. For the first time in his life, he could actually be fairly certain he was happy.


	21. Chapter 21

Two more days pass as Sho begins to split his time between Marie and the boisterous group of friends. When he had met Yukiko, she'd hardly seemed concerned that Sho was now a friend. Actually, she seemed almost too comfortable with the idea.

The friends all accepted Sho, trying to help him get past his violent past. Sure, a couple times, Sho had a sparring match with either Kanji or Chie, but it always ended in laughter. And, while having friends proved to be more enjoyable than he wanted to admit, Sho found that his favorite times were when it was only he and Marie.

Times like tonight. Tonight, they sit out under the stars, two canisters of coffee and a bowl of snacks between them. Marie points out different constellations to Sho, attempting to teach him a thing or two. But Sho simply stares at Marie with a strange smile. Laying beside her, Sho realizes none of this would have been possible without her. Without this crazy, punk rock goddess, Sho would still be a worthless good for nothing that still hated this boring town. Who would have known what a difference friends could make?

As Marie points out another constellation, she looks over to see that Sho isn't looking toward the sky anymore. Her face turns red and she angrily crosses her arms over her chest.

"Well, if you weren't interested you should have just said something you stupidinconsideratejerk!" Though when she looks over, Marie is able to see the look in his eyes is a new one entirely. This, by no surprise, makes her blush more.

"So, what made you decide to keep trying to be my friend?" Sho asks as he looks back up to the sky.

"I don't know." Marie responds. "I guess...I remembered when Yu and the others were so determined to help me even though I was being so difficult. And I knew if it weren't for them, I would have never figured myself out. I didn't want you to feel like that." She sighs.

"Was that...hard? Learning who you really were?"

"Mmm, not so much as I thought it would be." Marie responds quickly. "I had everyone to help me."

"I'm glad." Sho speaks in a calm voice.

Then, they become silent again.

Sho peaks at Marie from the corner of his eye and feels his pulse racing. The heat in his face was burning and his lungs refuse to take a deep breath. This was the feeling of love. He tried hard not to admit it, but...somehow, looking at her in the faint light of the moon made it hard for even Sho to deny it. But, he couldn't tell her now. Not like this. Hell, Sho wasn't even sure how you went about telling someone that you...loved them. Seems like something that silly girl Rise would be really good at.

As he sits there, considering what to do, Marie whispers one of her quiet poems. This one was about the moonlight shimmering through the navy blue sky. Then it hit him. He knew what to do. It wouldn't be easy and he might not be very good at it, but Sho knew how he could tell her how he really felt. This single thought brings a smile to his face.

Early the next morning, Sho awakens early and rushes to ready himself for the big plans he had. Without wasting a second, Sho goes into town and buys a notebook, similar to the one Marie had. It was a nice, leather bound book with a piece of leather to tie it shut. Maybe now she wouldn't have to worry about having people unexpectedly reading her poems.

After that was done, Sho sends her a message, inviting Marie to his house. Hopefully by then, he will have built up the gall to tell her how he really felt.

All morning, his heart pounds in his chest. So much so that he finds it difficult to eat or even drink anything. But he heads to Sozai anyway, for that's where his next step would begin. Shortly after taking his seat, Sho hears the loud, squealing voice of Rise. She'd been beyond excited when she heard that Sho was finally going to admit how he felt. Of course, she'd known since the first time her and Marie had spoke, but she never thought _she_ would get to help make it all happen. After buying a quick soda from the fountain, Rise sits down with Sho and they begin to scribble down a multitude of different things. The two looked like a truly unlikely pair.

But after a couple hours, the two of them had created what they both decided was a masterpiece, so Sho carefully copies the words over to the first page of Marie's new notebook:

_I've been sitting here thinking, _

_trying to understand what I'm doing here._

_Then I realize it's all because of you._

_I don't care if it hurts anymore, _

_your smile is all that matters._

_Whatever you want,_

_just let it show._

_Because when I'm with you,_

_I know I'll be okay._

_And when I'm with you,_

_I know someone has noticed me at last._

_Because of you,_

_I know that someday I'll be okay._


	22. Chapter 22

Holding the notebook close, Sho remembers the comfort of Marie's smile and tries to keep himself pumped. He could do this. Somehow, he would manage to let her know how he really feels. Behind him, the table is set with a mediocre meal of ten don. Feeling antsy, Sho had thrown the meal together quickly as though to distract himself, but the memories of not too long ago came into mind. The morning after falling asleep on that silly girl's lap, she had nearly caught the kitchen on fire.

That day, Sho could barely believe he'd made a friend, let alone something more. He had quickly prepared breakfast as Marie had stood there so embarrassed. She was always cutest when she blushed.

A smile cracked onto Sho's lips as he thought back to that. He was proud of himself, for finally making friends. But more than that, he was proud of making someone else happy. This wasn't something Sho thought he would ever have the chance of doing.

Then he heard the timid knock on the door. She was finally here!

Trying not to seem too excited, Sho struts over to the door and opens it up.

"Sorry I'm late." Marie admits bashfully.

"I mean, it's your fault if the food doesn't taste as good." He uncovers the two bowls after leading Marie into the room and she blushes a little.

"You didn't tell me you were making food."

"Didn't know I needed to." Sho flicks her hair then sits down. "So, anything fun you might want to do tonight?"

"Nah." Marie looks to the meal and smiles when she notices that Sho has made her meal the appropriate size. Plus, he'd added more vegetables to her bowl than he had his. He really paid attention to the things she liked. "Maybe watch a movie?"

"Here I hope. The theater is stupid." Sho takes a few bites then smiles at her. His heart was still racing too much. He couldn't eat. How was he going to do this?

"The theater isn't stupid!" Marie crumples her napkin and throws it at him. Sho gasps in a dramatic tone. "Oh stop it you!" She tosses a chopstick his direction next. With quick reflexes, Sho catches the small piece of wood then stands up.

"You could have stabbed my eye out!" His words are teasing and playful, so Marie gets up and pushes on Sho's chest.

"Oh boo-hoo." Marie had gotten use to Sho's teasing. "Guess you shouldn't be such a stupid jerk!" She looks to the coffee table and sees the notebook and is momentarily confused. Had she forgotten her book here? No, this one was a bit different. What was Sho doing with a journal?

But, after they sit down on the couch, Marie faces Sho and sees a slight hint of blush on his cheeks. He takes a deep breath and finds himself having a hard time facing her. With slightly more shaky hands than he'd hoped to have, Sho picks up the book.

"So...you made me realize...who I can be." He starts, him and Rise had ran through this over and over again. "I feel like, when I'm with you, I can be a better person." His words are unsure, but Marie can feel the power behind them. The color in her cheeks burn bright red. "And I kept trying to figure out how to show it." He scratches his upper neck. "So, I got you something. I know you love poetry, but seem to have some issues with your current journal being agreeable..." His smile spreads across his face easily now.

Marie hears what he's saying but she has a hard time understanding what its meaning is.

"You were able to make sense of all my insanity while somehow making me realize how stupid I was."

"I never said-!" Marie starts but Sho puts a finger to her lips.

"If it weren't for you, I'd probably be trying to figure out how to take out this whole damn town again." His entire body was numb, his heart was racing and his head spun a little as he hands Marie the journal. "I don't need you to read this now." He places it into her big, blue bag then takes a deep breath. "It's more a memory I wanted to get down on paper."

Oh man, he's finally going through with this. He makes a tight fist, then – mocking what he'd seen in the novels, as well as in a few movies – Sho moves his hand up toward the spot just behind Marie's ear. As he does this, Sho watches as Marie's face turns brilliant red and feels her breathing stop. When his own breath stops, Sho leans forward,

"Marie, I l-"

SLAM!

Then all at once Marie watches as what seems like hundreds of fully suited police storm into the house. One of them injects Marie with something that makes her dizzy, but still she tries to fight. But it is then that she realizes it isn't her they are after. Several of the men grab Sho while simultaneously injecting him with more tranquilizers than seemed safe for one human. Despite all of this, Sho tries to fight.

Every fiber in Sho's body kicks and pushes to get free. More than once, Sho nearly breaks free. He punches officer after officer, kicking and screaming as the logo on their uniforms was one he knew better than he'd wished. While he'd never learned of its meaning, in his many years spent within Ikustuski's lab, Sho had seen this symbol.

Everything seems to move both at slow motion and fast forward all at once. The hand on the clock moves by as if ticking through a special effects scene in an action flick. But the horde of officers zip by as if a swarm of bees whose hive was recently kicked down. Marie tries to stand and finds even this act is more of a challenge than she'd expected. How did Sho still have this much fight after four of these?!

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" Sho breaks free then and runs for Marie, who is quickly losing consciousness. He reaches his hand toward her with a desperate look plastered on his face. His hand is but inches away when another round of officers grab at Sho, pulling him out the small home.

Still on the couch, Marie tries again to stand and push her way toward Sho, but her legs are weak and her vision is cloudy. But if Sho could fight this hard, then damnit, so would she.

"Marie!" Sho's voice becomes despairing then as his battle with the horde of special police starts to become one sided. The tranquilizers were finally taking their tolls. Even still, he elbows one officer after the other, pushing and pulling in any way he can to break free. He even head butts a few of them, hoping that something – anything- might let him get back to Marie. If nothing else, he wanted her to know how he really felt. As they exit the door of Sho's home, the officers systematically head toward a long line of vehicles.

"Sho..." Marie fights against the tranquilizers to follow him. She couldn't let him be taken. Not now.

"Marie! I-" Sho tries once again to tell him he loves her, but one of the officer's covers his mouth. Attempting to retaliate, Sho bites his hand, allowing him to spit out one more word. "love-!" Then they all climb into the back of a black van, cutting off Sho's last chance to say the words he'd just recently discovered.

One of the officers watches Marie attempt to follow after. Feeling she wouldn't make it far, he radios to some outside force. "Target acquired. No casualties." Then he glances down to Marie once before running toward one of the dark vehicles.

Sure, they had vehicles, but Marie knows this town better than any. With sudden vigor, Marie pushes her feet forward. She would do everything within her power to stop them. Using her power was highly difficult with this drug spinning around in her head, but she tried. The rain comes quickly, as it is the thing she knows best, but nothing else follows. No matter how hard she tries, Marie cannot will herself to create more than irritating rain.

One step after another, Marie tries to catch up to the vehicles, but the drug has her moving too slow. By the time she reaches the city limits, they will be long gone. And Marie knows that is her only curse. She is the Inaba goddess, thus she can't go far.

Still trying, Marie reaches the cliffs but when she does, she can see the line of vehicles driving away in the distance. She hadn't been fast enough. Less because of the tranquilizer and more because Marie could do nothing more to help the one she's fallen in love with. Tears start to fall down her cheeks then, as Marie realizes what Sho had been trying to say. Remembering that he had placed the journal in her bag, Marie pulls it out, as one last thing she could do. Upon reading the words there, all hell breaks loose.

Tears fall violently down her cheeks then Marie screams toward the now ant sized vehicles. Behind her, the clouds turn black, winds howl through the trees and rain begins to fall with a vengeance. And a fog, thicker than Inaba has ever seen, slowly rolls in to cover the city.


	23. Chapter 23

Yu sits in his quiet bedroom, many miles from Inaba and the many friends he had made when his phone suddenly begins to ring. He picks it up and is surprised when he sees the name on the display. Without hesitation, Yu quickly answers the phone then is bombarded with information.

"Sorry to bother you at so late an hour, but it has come to our attention that you must return to Inaba. Time is of the essence." Mitsuru speaks on the other line, her voice is firm as usual though she sounds a little rushed. "The special police force has proven far more persistent than we had imagined. It would seem that some time ago they found the location of Minazuki." She sounds distracted, as if possibly driving or something while explaining the situation. "I'm sorry to say that I did not discover this as quickly as I had hoped to."

Yu scratches his head and his eyebrows furrow. Sure, they didn't want Sho to be taken, but why was Mitsuru so concerned about it all? He couldn't help but be at a loss.

"It would seem that the special police force gave Minazuki over to another lab. They intend to – no, already have – experiment upon him once more." She sighs and Yu is certain he can even see Mitsuru grabbing her forehead. "While this would be awful news on its own, the reason we need you is even more vital." Mitsuru pauses for a moment. Yu stands up and slowly begins to pace back and forth. What could be the problem? Mitsuru wasn't one to say she needed help, especially of someone in school. "Minazuki and your friend Marie had become friends. His kidnapping has left Inaba in something of a catastrophe. We need you to help us bring Minazuki back and save Inaba."

Yu nods, as if Mitsuru can hear this affirmation then begins to pack his things. Surely he would be able to come up with a good enough reason to need to return. One his parents would believe at least. If Inaba was in danger, Yu needed to be there. He_ was_ the leader of the Investigation team after all.

* * *

><p>This is the transitioning chapter between what was and what is to come.<p>

I can't decide if I should just continue on under this title or create a new story all together. Let me know what you think. Part 2 is certain to be a roller coaster. Be prepared.


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